Kiss of the Spider Woman
Lionsgate | Release Date: October 10, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
17
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Film MavenKristen LopezOct 9, 2025
Kiss of the Spider Woman is astounding. If you aren't a musical fan, will you be in hell? Probably. But for those who enjoy a sweeping musical story, or for lovers of Old Hollywood, you'll be in Heaven for the next two hours. Read full review
90
SlashfilmBill BriaJan 30, 2025
Kiss of the Spider Woman is a big kiss of a movie, one so genuinely loving that it's hard not to swoon. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonOct 9, 2025
Watching J.Lo make movie magic for the captive audience on both sides of the screen reminded me why I watch movies, and how revisiting my favorite films has kept me sane and happy in this bitter little world. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldOct 9, 2025
Condon doesn’t shy away from the violence and tragedy at the heart of this story, but he lets us see the tender, hard-forged connection between Molina and Valentín, and also lets us disappear into a world of tinselly Hollywood beauty, just as they do. Read full review
83
Original-CinChris KnightOct 15, 2025
Kiss of the Spider Woman remains an engrossing tale in this new century, and a lovely paean to old movies and the thrills of getting lost in them. Read full review
83
The Film StageJourdain SearlesFeb 7, 2025
Despite the jumps from reality to fantasy and back again, Kiss of the Spider Woman has one clear, loud emotional heartbeat. Every musical and dance number is well-performed and bursting with thematic meaning; the music is fun, the jokes land, and the overlapping characters are compelling to watch in both the real and fantasy world. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonOct 10, 2025
Earlier incarnations of this story had activism as the end goal, Valentin for his principles and Molina for his new friend. Condon is more focused on their humanity. Caring for each other makes this bleak world worth fighting for. Without joy, we’re already in chains. Read full review
80
Next Best PictureCody DericksSep 9, 2025
Jennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh give exceptional, electric performances. The musical sequences are stunning, thanks to thrilling dancing and gorgeously old-fashioned designs. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloOct 10, 2025
Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is a reminder of what a great on-screen musical looks and feels like. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittOct 9, 2025
There aren't enough movie musicals in general, and especially not enough that experiment with the form like “Spider Woman.” With a satisfying tale that leans timely given the film’s political bent and a knockout performance by Tonatiuh, it might even weave you breathless. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla MeyerOct 7, 2025
Is it possible to enjoy a movie musical while actively disliking its songs? It is with “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which proves the durability of a good story — and story within a story — no matter how many generic John Kander and Fred Ebb songs, weakly performed by Jennifer Lopez, come with it. Read full review
75
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferFeb 3, 2025
Condon’s conducting of the whole affair is technically competent … dazzling, even, in sections. But all that flashiness is not blinding enough to conceal the gap between the tune it sings and the routine it dances. That is to say: Kiss of the Spider Woman may be about movie magic, but the film itself isn’t always magic. Read full review
70
The Travers TakePeter TraversOct 11, 2025
Alternately terrific and tepid, Bill Condon’s swirl of song, dance and Technicolor keeps the musical alive on screen with the help of Jennifer Lopez, a star who can hold the camera and bend it to her will. Read full review
70
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiJan 28, 2025
Kiss of the Spider Woman is entertaining and invites us into its fantasy in a bid to forget reality for a while. And for the two hours I was watching, I did. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 28, 2025
The musical finds rare shards of light — and an unlikely connection — in the most despairing of places. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 28, 2025
Bill Condon sets himself a tough assignment trying to transform the tricky material into a great movie musical, but thanks in part to laudable work from his three leads, he occasionally comes close. Read full review
66
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerOct 10, 2025
This latest Kiss of the Spider Woman is nearly as ramshackle as its fictional namesake; it’s not the powerhouse it should be. But it comes together. And for Lopez, its artifice looks more like a form of honesty. Read full review
63
Washington PostNaveen KumarOct 9, 2025
J-Lo is essentially an elaborate distraction, which is just fine as the story goes, but not exactly a kinetic position for a star. Read full review
63
The Associated PressLindsey BahrOct 8, 2025
Molina’s main stage might be a dull, claustrophobic prison cell, but Tonatiuh’s performance is vibrant technicolor. Read full review
60
Radio TimesAmber WilkinsonApr 17, 2026
While director Bill Condon is adept when it comes to staging all-singing, all-dancing escapism, he proves less successful at nailing the grimmer tone behind bars. Read full review
60
EmpireBarry LevittApr 17, 2026
A daring reimagining of an oft-told story, Kiss Of The Spider Woman features some sensational musical moments that nicely hark back to classic Hollywood, but struggles to reconcile two very different worlds. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 28, 2025
This Kiss of the Spider Woman might be wildly uneven, but it’s hard not to be moved by the sight of a great new talent emerging into the world. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 28, 2025
We’re in safest hands with Lopez and Condon when he’s playing in that sandbox as the cell-based scenes can be a little stagey and rushed in comparison. Read full review
60
ColliderRoss BonaimeJan 28, 2025
Kiss of the Spider Woman is yet another decent adaptation, but even Condon's visual panache and scale can’t quite elevate this story to greatness. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNatalia KeoganJan 29, 2025
Messy and muddled in its presentation and messaging, Kiss Of The Spider Woman needs more than just compelling performances to raise this project to the level of esteem granted to its predecessors from 30 and 40-odd years ago. Read full review
58
IndieWireRyan LattanzioJan 28, 2025
Kiss of the Spider Woman is a flashy ode to the fairies and the radicals, the maricóns who’ve repurposed their oppression and media literacy into an outsize, fuck-if-I-care-what-you-think political identity. Yet there’s nothing revolutionary about the movie that contains them. Read full review
50
The RevealKeith PhippsOct 16, 2025
While Luna and Tonatiuh play characters transported by movies, the film in which they appear never quite summons the same power. Read full review
50
TheWrapChase HutchinsonOct 10, 2025
Lopez, while certainly dancing all the right steps, is only ever a composite of a movie star who feels trapped in a surprisingly stiff production. She deserves better than what the film gives her, but there’s never a moment when she gets it. Read full review
50
The New York TimesElisabeth VincentelliOct 9, 2025
For the most part, though, the X factor of elegance, sensuality and verve that made MGM musicals so memorable is missing here. You want to give an encouraging grade for effort, but effort is also the last thing you want to see in a musical. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiJan 31, 2025
For a musical so dedicated to celebrating and critiquing the transformative potential of cinematic fantasy, Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman brings relatively little of the kind of overwhelming star power that can truly transport audiences. Read full review
50
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJan 28, 2025
Here is an opportunity for a wild and sorrowful confluence of gay dream and national nightmare. Alas, this Kiss of the Spider Woman gives us a competent but glancing rendering of the easier, more palatable aspects of a story that should be anything but. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJan 27, 2025
Dreamgirls director Bill Condon’s off-putting movie is a visual and narrative mess: polished where it should be gritty and ugly where it must be glamorous. Bland, almost always. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 28, 2026
Puig’s story is trivialised by slickness, and the tragic ending barely registers. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeApr 16, 2026
The film exists to give Lopez an opportunity to bring the house down. She does that, but it’s not quite enough. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalZachary BarnesOct 10, 2025
Inserting glitzy musical numbers amid such drama could have come off as a subversive twist, but because everything is presented with the same gentle glow of sentimentality it ends up feeling merely tasteless. For “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” this is the kitschy kiss of death. Read full review
40
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJan 28, 2025
The effort is strenuous; all 128 minutes of it. But it’s almost as exhausting to watch as it must have been to make. Read full review
More From This Movie

63 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL