The Setup: Noir With a Spray Tan
Love Is a Gun is one of those early ‘90s erotic thrillers that you’d find sandwiched between a Shannon Tweed classic and an “after dark” Cinemax rerun. But unlike its straight-to-video cousins, this one has two things going for it: a tighter-than-expected script and Kelly Preston playing a dangerous woman like she was born to wear silk sheets and secrets.
It’s not Double Indemnity — hell, it’s barely Color of Night — but it’s watchable, occasionally stylish, and frequently ridiculous in that oh-so-1994 way. Think Venetian blinds, saxophones, and erotic photography processed at Kinko’s.
The Plot: Love, Lust, and Slightly Off Camera Angles
Eric Roberts plays Jack Hart, a moody crime scene photographer who stares at murder victims like he’s composing an emo album cover. One day, he stumbles across a photo of a mysterious woman named Jean Starr (Preston) — because of course that’s her name — and becomes obsessed. Naturally, obsession turns into an affair, and the affair turns into a full-blown catastrophe when people start ending up dead and Hart starts questioning whether Jean is a muse… or a sociopath in stilettos.
It’s noir 101, but with enough twists to keep your attention — at least until the inevitable third-act unraveling where things get messy, confusing, and deliciously over-the-top.
Kelly Preston: Femme Fatale, Force of Nature
Let’s not kid ourselves: Kelly Preston is the reason Love Is a Gun still has a pulse. She isn’t just playing the femme fatale — she is the movie. From the moment she steps into frame, it’s clear she knows exactly what kind of film she’s in and how to make the most of it.
She oozes that perfect mix of sex appeal and menace. You don’t know if you want to date her, follow her, or file a restraining order — but either way, you’ll definitely keep watching. Her voice purrs like a sports car at idle, and she has this uncanny ability to make even the most nonsensical dialogue sound like Shakespeare dipped in perfume and danger.
Also: the wardrobe. If silk robes and garters could kill, Jack Hart wouldn’t have made it past the first act.
Eric Roberts: Sad Eyed and Slightly Confused
Eric Roberts does his best here, giving us a lead character who always looks like he’s one hangover away from quitting photography and moving into a lighthouse. He’s moody, he’s sweaty, and he spends a lot of time looking at things: photos, women, his own poor life choices.
He’s not bad, per se — just wildly outgunned by Preston, who spends every scene eating him alive with her eyes and smirking like she’s two steps ahead of the script.
Still, there’s a certain charm to watching him spiral down the rabbit hole of seduction and suspicion. Roberts has always had that “guy who knows better but can’t help himself” energy, and it works well here.
Style Points: Neon Noir by Way of Late-Night Cable
This is a film that wants to be stylish. And sometimes it succeeds — shadowy staircases, moody jazz, and murder montages bathed in blood-red light. Other times, it feels like the director just shouted “more blinds and more saxophone!” and hoped nobody noticed the set was actually a repurposed office space in Burbank.
Still, for a low-budget noir, Love Is a Gun punches above its weight. There’s some actual atmosphere here, even if it’s the kind of atmosphere that smells faintly of hairspray and expired Marlboros.
Dark Humor Take: Love Hurts… But Mostly Confuses
At one point, a character says, “Love is a gun — once it’s cocked, it’s dangerous.” Which is exactly the kind of line you write at 3 a.m. on a Red Bull binge and decide to keep because it sounds deep. The entire movie is filled with that kind of overwrought sex-noir poetry — and that’s half the fun.
It’s also got moments of unintentional comedy gold. Like when Eric Roberts dramatically burns a photo while a sad jazz solo wails in the background, or when Preston slaps him mid-makeout like she’s auditioning for a telenovela. You laugh, but you keep watching, because something about it works.
Missed Opportunities: Could’ve Been Steamier, Could’ve Been Smarter
For a film that flirts with erotic thriller greatness, it never quite goes full throttle. The sex scenes are steamy-ish but oddly tame by genre standards. The mystery is intriguing but wrapped up a little too neatly. And worst of all, the final showdown feels like it wandered in from a different movie — possibly a cop drama that got canceled halfway through shooting.
There’s a smarter, sharper, more suspenseful movie hiding in here somewhere — but like most of Jack Hart’s photographs, it’s just slightly out of focus.
Final Thoughts: Worth It for the Preston, If Not the Plot
Love Is a Gun isn’t a lost classic. It’s not even particularly good. But it’s got just enough going for it to keep you watching: a decent pace, a pulpy story, and a knockout performance from Kelly Preston that proves she should’ve had a much longer run as a noir queen.
So if you like your thrillers a little trashy, a little sexy, and a little confused — but with one foot in the deep end of 90s melodrama — go ahead. Pull the trigger.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sizzling Silk Robes
(2 stars for the movie, +1.5 for Kelly Preston being an absolute force)