Kid Gloves

by Sean Hill

KID GLOVES is a character driven drama about three people who are trying to fit into to a world that they cannot relate to for different reasons. Fred works at a debt collection company and has grown weary of what he does and has to deal with an overly aggressive and incompetent boss. Gus is a gardener who takes a job working on Fred’s lawn. Both Fred and Gus are in their fifties and neither feel that they have lived up to their earlier potential in life. And then there is Jess, a co-worker of Fred’s who is good at what she does but finds no joy in it. For her this is a steppingstone to bigger and better things. These are the main characters in this slow paced and predictable film.

The film borrows elements from THE KARATE KID and ROCKY but fails to capture the magic of either one of those films. Part of the magic in those films is that the characters are so compelling that we do actually care about the outcome of their fights. Here Fred is just not that interesting so there is no emotional investment to the outcome of the fight. There are some nice moments in the film, and I liked Fred’s relationship with Jess and it could have been explored a little more. Fred and Gus also have some good moments together as well but ultimately the film lets the characters down.

The use of music in the film can sometimes be overbearing. During the climax of the film the music is mixed so loud that it is difficult to understand what the characters are saying. The house/trance music that is used in the film does not fit the mode of the film nor the characters and because of that it takes away from the overall enjoyment of the film.

Overall, I did enjoy the three leads, and each is given proper development and their moment to shine. However, I felt the story itself was rather flat and I was uninvolved with the outcome and with this type of film that is exactly what you need. Its once thing to have interesting characters but putting them in an uninteresting situation just does not work.