KISSING A FOOL (1998)
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Doug Ellin
Written by: Doug Ellin and James Frey
Ingredients: Man who loves woman, woman who is engaged to man's friend
Synopsis: A man and a woman who intend to get married attend a wedding reception and ask Linda the publisher (Bonnie Hunt) how the bride and groom met. In four or five vignettes, she explains the story to them:
Writer Jay (Jason Lee) and his editor Samantha (Mili Avital) are both literary types, and they work together and are falling in love. Unfortunately, Samantha is already engaged to Jay's best friend, Max the womanizer (David Schwimmer). This situation is easily solved, since the moment Samantha finds out Max is a womanizer, she can live guiltlessly and happily ever after with Jay.
Opinion: The problem with this film is that the situation can be solved in a half hour sitcom, so KISSING A FOOL has a very difficult time stretching the story out to an hour and forty five minutes. They do this by breaking the film up into five or so comedic situations which last about five minutes a piece. Each situation is then followed by a five-minute let-down period where the joke peters out, and then the camera has to switch back to an unconvincingly enthusiastic couple asking publisher Linda what will happen next in the story.
One really strange thing that differentiates this film from all the others I've seen this year is that in every scene, whether home, living room, front porch, office, restaurant, or bedroom, people are gulping down alcohol like fish taking to water. They guzzle tequila shots, wine, and beer on a continuous basis oblivious to the fact that they are alcoholics.
KISSING A FOOL is entirely predictable, and feels completely contrived. There is one mysterious part where Max hands two envelopes to Jay and Samantha, but the envelopes are never explained. On the good side, at least the wedding reception and ending are happy.
Reviewed by David Sunga February 28, 1998
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