Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998) 2 stars out of 4. Starring Larenz Tate, Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox and Lela Rochon. Directed by Gregory Nava.
Somewhere amidst the fragmented chaos that is Why Do Fools Fall in Love lurks the germ of a terrific movie.
Unfortunately, director Gregory Nava and writer Tina Andrews have overreached their objective. Instead of the multitextured story they were hoping to film, their film is a jumbled, unfocused undertaking.
Why Do Fools Fall in Love centers on the life of one of rock 'n' roll's early idols, Frankie Lymon, whom with his group, The Teenagers, rose to the top of the charts in early 1956 with the film's title song. The recording was one of the first big hits of the rock era.
However, Nava's movie concentrates not on Lymon's life but the aftermath of his death. The main plot follows the court battle for Lymon's estate waged by three women from diverse backgrounds, each claiming to be Mrs. Frankie Lymon.
The women are Zola Taylor (Halle Berry), a successful singer who was a member of that legendary group, The Platters; Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Fox), a welfare mother whom Frankie meets when he saves her from a shoplifting charge; and Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon), a schoolteacher Frankie meets while serving in the Army, long after his singing career has peaked.
The story is told mostly in flashback as each woman testifies about her life with Frankie.
Despite the various perspectives on Lymon, we never get a clear picture of whom Frankie Lymon is. This is because Nava and Andrews emphasize the three women, their attempts to win in court and their relationships with Lymon.
The film creates a jigsaw puzzle that, at the end of nearly two hours, still is missing pieces.
We learn that Lymon had an alcoholic, abusive father and that his singing stemmed from his need for love and acceptance. We discover that his later heroin addiction is a result of the decline in his career.
Nava's attempts to recreate the '50s era are inadequate. Also, we get no time frame of the events in Frankie's life or at what age the various women entered his life. For example, Frankie was only 13 in '56 when "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" rose on the charts. He died in 1968 at 25.
We also learn very little about these women. What, for example, attracted the already-successful Zola to this upstart street kid from Harlem? Why do we never see or hear any more about Elizabeth's daughter, despite the fact that the clothes Elizabeth was stealing were for her child? What unknown change of heart causes Emira, who throughout the trial seems to hold the other women in contempt, to suddenly decide to bond with them?
Why Do Fools Fall in Love skips over these points in favor of flashy camera angles and tricks, slick set design and various musical set pieces.
However, the three actresses compensate for the flimsy material they are handed. Berry, as Zola, is the most colorful and theatrical of the trio. Fox, so spunky as Will Smith's lover in Independence Day, brings that same spark of grit to the role of an average person at first swept up in the lure of celebrity, then willing to sink to the depths to help her man.
What's puzzling is that the three women are so self-sufficient that it's difficult to comprehend why they continue to allow Frankie to take advantage of them.
Larenz Tate as Frankie sparkles, but we never see the allure that captivated these women. Tate's Frankie is a charming heel who for the most part thinks only of himself and of ways to recapture his very brief life in the limelight.
Determining fact from fiction is another problem, even though the movie feels more like a rock fable than musical history. There is no way to gather Frankie's age when he took up with any of his wives.
Why Do Fools Fall in Love is an entertaining look at a vibrant time in music history. It's sassy, loud and joyful, just like the music it celebrates. It is just too bad that the sound wasn't the film's main focus.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or cbloom@iquest.net
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