Kate (Meg Ryan) and Charlie Lytton (Timothy Hutton) are engaged and living in Toronto. When Charlie plans to attend a medical convention in Paris, he invites Kate to join him. The problem? She's afraid to fly. Well, this is just one of two problems. Kate is also an American and is in the process of getting Canadian citizenship. In this in-between state, she's not supposed to travel outside of the country yet. So Charlie gets on the plane without her.

Though Kate's reasoning is logical, her decision turns out to be a mistake. Soon she gets a phone call from Charlie. He's met a French woman named Juliette (Susan Anbeh), whom he refers to as "a goddess," and he's fallen in love with her. He quickly breaks off the engagement. He's not coming back to Toronto. Bracing herself, Kate gets on a plane and flies to Paris to win back the man she loves.

Enter Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline), the Frenchman who sits next to Kate on the plane. They don't hit it off, at all. But once they reach Paris, Luc continues to dog Kate. She doesn't know it, but he's hidden something valuable in her bag, so that it will pass through Customs. Luc promises to help Kate, in her quest to get Charlie back. Will their strategy work? Can Luc be trusted? And what will happen afterward?

Kate and Luc learn more about one another as they follow Charlie and Juliette from Paris to Cannes. Kate is surprised as they stop at Luc's family home in wine country, along the way. She also discovers details -- maybe more than she wants to know -- from Luc's friend and near-protector, Police Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon (Jean Reno). But we all have secrets, right?

French Kiss is just a whole lot of fun. I hear that American airlines sometimes even show the movie during flights to France. It's a romantic comedy, so of course, you can probably guess what will happen in the end. Meg Ryan and Kevin Klein make perfect foils for one another. Timothy Hutton plays a true jerk, and Susan Anbeh, a demanding goddess. The scenery in Paris and in rural France is terrific. Typical French music is supplied in the background or serves to move the action. And the evocative music continues through the closing credits, with personalization by Meg and Kevin, so be sure to stick around. Watch this movie repeatedly, and you'll pick up a lot of good quotes to practice in your best pseudo-French accent. Like, "I forget already," or, "Oui, it was too beautiful for me, I had to leave." True friends will know where you learned these sayings.