August 11, 1992 -- ``Prelude to a Kiss'' is a very odd, deliberately-paced, but effective film about a magical event, an old man and young bride switching bodies, but it is not like all those other body-switching films like ``18 Again'' and ``Vice-Versa.''

This film is primarily a love story and a very good one, with Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin the primary characters. Body-switching is not played for belly laughs, but insight. The insight isn't very deep, but it tries.

This film is not for all tastes. It is an adult comedy and kids won't understand it or like it. Anybody who was raised on Sesame Street is used to a change of topics every five minutes won't be able to take the film's sustained concentration on the love story for over 20 minutes, what agony!

When the body-switching scene finally arrives, it is handled with great subtlety. The dialogue is very well-written and the characters are sharply drawn and delightfully quirky. In some ways, this movie is a throwback to comedy films of the 1940s, prior to the influence of television. Many films today look like made-for-tv movies. One can clearly see where the commercials will be placed. This film is not like that at all.

There is no compromise to the tube here. It rates a B.

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