KISSING A FOOL (R)
Directed by Doug Ellin Running Time: 95 minutes Originally Released: February 27, 1998
Reviewed by E. Benjamin Kelsey
* * (out of four)
Oh, how I wanted to love this movie, and I almost did, but something about its overpowering lackluster prevented me from doing so. So much potential, so many winning elements, and so many mistakes, KISSING A FOOL has its wings, it just doesn't know how to take flight.
"Friend" to all, David Schwimmer stars in this romantic comedy as a Chicago sportscaster / local Don Juan, Max Abbitt, a handsome egomaniac who scores more often than the Cubs. We begin at a wedding where the groom's identity is kept concealed, allowing for a small amount of mystery for anyone in the audience who can't figure out the end from the very beginning. As everyone's off dancing and celebrating, we focus in on a semi-cynical, chain smoking wedding guest, Linda Streicher (Bonnie Hunt), who seems more anxious to sit on tacks than be in attendance at the gala. It is from her that the story behind Max, his best friend Jay (Jason Lee), and Sam the bride (Mili Avital), is recounted to a pair of total strangers who listen intently as Linda catches them, and the audience, up on all the wedding preliminaries.
Flashback: Jay is a novelist catering to the tenderness of the heart, adapting his novels from the feelings of love and heartbreak experienced in relationships past. After being dumped by an aspiring model (Vanessa Angel), Jay has spent the past several months in a state of depression, working and writing as a compensation for lost love. In the meanwhile, his best friend for life, Max, is Chicago's most eligible (and promiscuous) bachelor. In an attempt to tame the libidinous beast, Jay sets Max up for a night out with his new book editor, Sam, hoping that Max will be stricken by something new, beauty *and* brains, and finally settle down into a happily monogamous relationship. As things turn out, it is only a matter of weeks before Sam and Max are engaged to be married, surprising everyone at the sudden change in Max's flirtatious lifestyle.
As the wedding bells draw near, it becomes apparent that Max is more than skeptical of jumping into such a committable institution, but surprise surprise, it's isn't Max's fear of monogamy, it's his fear of Sam's trustworthiness. What if Max isn't enough for her? So, drawing it straight down the line, Max approaches Jay with a proposition - try to get Sam to cheat on him. If she's willing to sleep with Jay, the wedding's off, but if not, Max will know she's the one. The premise is as shallow as Max himself, but it gives Scwimmer quite a turn from his puppy-dog character on "Friends". Likewise, Lee becomes the emotional romantic as opposed to the self-righteous misanthrope characters he played in MALLRATS and CHASING AMY. While Schwimmer turns in a competent performance, it is Lee who clearly shines, perhaps brooding with too much talent for such an otherwise mediocre film. Showing that he can charmingly play either side of the spectrum, hopefully Lee's appearance here will catapult him to some bigger and better roles, even if his talent is hidden in the depths of a blasé film.
Leave it to Avital to make the underdeveloped Sam as likeable as she is, surely not an easy task with such thin makings. Avital shows budding ability that, after nurturing a few roles, has real potential to blossom. The stifled chemistry between her and Lee (oops, did I say something?) is surprisingly candid. It is those kind of attributes that make KISSING A FOOL such a disappointment. It's as if they're saying "look how good we *could* have been" before retaliating with an occasional ill-directed, terribly wooden scene. Charm abounds, quite a few bits of humor are downright hilarious, but quality, overall, sags. To be fair, the charm outweighs the flaws, so brace yourself for all the imperfections and give this one a chance on video.
March 26, 1998
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