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Prelude to a Kiss is a 1992 film starring Meg Ryan, Alec Baldwin and Sydney Walker.

On Peter Hoskins and Rita Boyle's wedding day Rita is kissed by Julius, a lonely old man, who asks Peter if he can kiss the bride. Once he kisses her, their souls are swapped and Rita is now trapped in Julius' body which is aging and dying. Peter goes off on honeymoon with his bride and soon starts to be suspicious about her apparent change of personality and zest for life which the woman he fell in love with didn't seem to have. Will Peter find out the truth about Rita? Will Julius' and Rita's souls ever swap around? Is this just another Freaky Friday type film?

First off I have to tell you that I really enjoyed this film and have seen it several times; shortly after it was first released and several times in more recent years. It received a lot of slating at the time of its release and afterwards with the New York Times saying The sad news about this movie adaptation is that it functions as a cruel critique of the problems that, for whatever reason, did not seem important in the stage production. This Prelude to a Kiss is not only without charm and wit, but it's also clumsily set forth: many people seeing it may wonder what, in heaven's name, is going on . . . The opened-up film lumbers like someone on crutches. Against the literal surroundings of Chicago, the North Shore and Jamaica, Peter, Rita and the old man become perfunctory characters, interesting only for the bizarre situation in which they are caught. They lack any convincing particularity or idiosyncrasy. The same dialogue that served well enough on the stage now sounds arch and coy or metaphysically flat. Personally I thought this scathing review was way off the mark and although I have always liked both Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin as performers, it was not just my bias towards them that made me enjoy the film.

I had never seen Sydney Walker in any films that I recall prior to his role in Prelude to a Kiss but he apparently was in the 1970 hit Love Story, A Christmas Carol in 1981 and various other films. He was mostly a stage actor and his role as Julius in this film, for me, was truly inspired. He was 71 at the time of filming and for the better part of the film he plays a woman in her 20s which is no mean feat. I found him adorable in the role. It's definitely easier to play someone older than your actually age but to play someone over 40 years younger was a challenge that Walker carried off

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