Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic, and while this film at one point had audio description, it seems to have been lost to the sands of time.

Kiss Of The Spider Woman (2025)is based on the Broadway musical Kiss of The Spider Woman (1993), which was based on KISS of the Spider Woman (1985) which earned William Hurt an Oscar,which itself is based on the 1976 novel. My god. Talk about a chain reaction. it is like playing the telephone game, but with film. Bill condon (Dreamgirls) is here to direct, and he’s brought along some star power in Jennifer Lopez. If you knew nothing about the film, you would assume she was the star, She must be the titular Spider Woman, and the center of the plot, right?

Actually, the leads are Toniguh and Diego Luna, who play two very different men trapped in a prison cell together. This takes place in Argentina, during a period of political unrest, with Luna’s character being a political prisoner of sorts. Meanwhile, his cellmate is in for indecency, because they used to just jail men for being gay. More than that though, he truly identifies with his feminine side, and his orientation and identity is likely on a spectrum, especially in the growth the community has had since the novel debuted in the 70’s.

We find out that their pairing isn’t coincidental, and rather the prisons warden is trying to get information from Luna’s rabblerouser, and is offering his cellmate freedom if he can get him to spill the beans. His methodology is to play it cool, and ultimately tell the story of his favorite movie musical to pass the time. That musical? Kiss Of The Spider Woman, and it is in those dream like sequences that Lopez comes alive. All of this brings our cellmates closer together, polar opposites, but with this shared experience. But is betrayal in the midst?

This premiered at the 2025 Sundance film festival, and was acquired by Lionsgate and roadside Attractions for a theatrical release. The buzz out of Sundance was rather muted, but I love a good movie musical, so I was excited to see this. I really enjoyed Dreamgirls and thought Condon did a great job there. This is one Oscar bait film likely to fall under the radar, even though it is good, and everyone here is doing good work.Luna continues to prove he’s one of the more undervalued talents in Hollywood, still waiting for the right project to get him to Oscar night, and Lopez shines in a golden era of musicals style role. She’s a bit Rita Moreno, a bit Ginger Roger’s, and a bit Gwen Vernon. She feels timeless, and instead of bringing more of a pop sound, she has a much more legit musical Voice I didn’t expect. I adored her performance, but understand a role that is mostly singing and dancing, without a lot of character work, won’t get her that Oscar love she’s craving.

The original film is worth the time, though I oddly didn’t love Hurt in the film. It is a good performance, but it felt like they were too afraid to do two Latino men in lead roles, with already an LGBTQ lean. The music is brushed up, sounding more current than 1993, and all the actors do solid work.

I’ve seen this twice with no audio description to try and get as much out of it as possible, so I feel my grade is fair. I did like it, and it is possible the grade could go up a little if I got audio description. For now, if you’re looking for a solid musical, you won’t go wrong here. It isn’t the best musical of the year, nor is it the worst. It is one of the better ones. I think it does such a lovely job with the Spider Woman sequences, that it helps Jennifer Lopez a bit more.

Give in to the Kiss Of The Spider Woman.

Fresh: 6.8/10