The screen version of Broadway's Tony-winning musical Kiss of the Spider Woman hits movie theatres October 10, and the reviews are coming in. See what critics are saying below.

Jennifer Lopez is starring in the title role of the film version of the 1992 John Kander-Fred Ebb-Terrence McNally musical, with Tonatiuh as Luis Molina and Diego Luna as Valentin Arregui. The cast also includes Broadway alum Josefina Scaglione (West Side Story), Bruno Bichir, and Aline Mayagoitia. Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Beauty and the Beast) has written and directed the film.

Based on Manuel Puig's 1976 novel, Kiss of the Spider Woman centers on a pair of cellmates in an Argentine prison. Valentin is a political revolutionary, while Molina is a gay window dresser who takes care of him by telling him the stories of his favorite films, many of which star his favorite movie star of all, Aurora. But the one story he fears telling is Aurora's greatest role: The Spider Woman. 

Read the reviews below.

Associated Press (Lindsey Bahr)

The Boston Globe (Odie Henderson)*

Cinema Daily (Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi)

The Film Stage (Jourdain Searles)

HoustonPress (Brad Gilmore)

Los Angeles Times (Amy Nicholson)*

Mercury News (Randy Myers)*

Movie Jawn (Elijah Fischer)

MovieWeb (Juan Barquin)

The New York Times (Elisabeth Vincentelli)*

The Only Critic (Nate Adams)

Reuters (Danielle Broadway)

San Francisco Chronicle (G. Allen Johnson)*

Screen Anarchy (Mel Valentin)

Third Coast Review (Lisa Trifone)

The Trumbull Times (Lindsey Behr)

The Washington Post (Naveen Kumar)*

The Wrap (Chase Hutchinson)*

*This review may require creating a free account or a paid subscription.

Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.

The novel was adapted by Puig himself into a 1983 stage play, and then into an Academy Award-winning film in 1985 starring Broadway favorite Raúl Juliá. Kander, Ebb, and McNally's stage musical version expanded the story somewhat, making Aurora a character who appears in a number of fantasy sequences. Chita Rivera created the role and won a Tony Award for her performance, later succeeded by Vanessa Williams in her Broadway debut. Condon's screen adaptation is somewhat different from the musical's Broadway iteration, deleting several non-diagetic songs and restoring formerly deleted numbers from the musical's pre-Broadway try-out.

Barry Josephson, Tom Kirdahy, and Greg Yolen are producing with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Artists Equity, the film's studio and lead producer. Michael Joe, Danie Bernfeld, and Kevin Halloran are executive producing for Artists Equity along with Condon for 1000 Eyes, Lopez and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas for Nuyorican Productions, and D. Matt Geller for Josephson Entertainment. Luna, Pamela Thur, Sam Weisman, Daniel Weisman, and Margaux Weisman are also executive producing.

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Photos: Kiss of the Spider Woman Film

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