FOOLS RUSH IN
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1997 Scott Renshaw
(Columbia) Starring: Matthew Perry, Salma Hayek, Jon Tenney. Screenplay: Katherine Reback. Producer: Doug Draizin. Director: Andy Tennant. MPAA Rating: PG-13 (profanity, adult themes) Running Time: 109 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Somewhere along the line, the makers of romantic comedies stopped caring about whether their lead characters had any business being together. Perhaps in response to the complex ritual late-20th-century courtship has become, audiences began to embrace film romances which had as much to do with sorcery as chemistry -- SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL -- and film-makers have been only too happy to provide more of the same. The fairy tale, a perfectly enjoyable expression of our dreams, is no longer simply a supplement to realistic love in the movies; it practically has replaced it entirely. FOOLS RUSH IN is the next logical step in the transformation of screen romance into a celebration of fate. Where SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE asked you to root for a couple who didn't meet until the final scene, FOOLS RUSH IN asks you to root for a couple after you have spent over 100 minutes observing in grim detail that they have absolutely nothing in common.
Matthew Perry stars as Alex Whitman, a field representative for a chain of nightclubs based in New York City. Alex is supervising the construction of a new location in Las Vegas when he meets Isabel Fuentes (Salma Hayek), an aspiring photographer with a deep belief in destiny, in a local bar. The two share a one-night stand, but Isabel ducks out the next morning before Alex wakes up. Their destiny seems to be never to meet again, until Isabel shows up three months later at Alex's door with a startling revelation: she is pregnant, and Alex is the father. Though Isabel is willing to keep and raise the baby on her own, Alex becomes convinced that they should get married immediately. That is what they do at a Vegas chapel, but the honeymoon is extremely short-lived. As the newlyweds actually get to know each other, they find a host of obstacles in the way, perhaps more than their instant family can withstand.
Perhaps more than the audience can withstand, as well. FOOLS RUSH IN scripter Katherine Reback doesn't provide one really interesting conflict between Alex and Isabel -- she provides a dozen moderately diverting conflicts, with characters who are on screen barely long enough for you to remember their names. The couple quarrels over whether they will live in New York or Las Vegas; they disagree over a religion for the baby. Isabel's police officer ex-boyfriend (Carlos Gomez) scowls at Alex and helps get him drunk on tequila; Alex's sort-of-ex-girlfriend (Suzanne Snyder) meddles by calling Alex's parents. Both sets of parents fret over the hasty marriage; Alex frets over juggling career and family. There is so much quarreling and scowling and meddling and fretting going on from so many different directions that you might find yourself wondering if you have forgotten how perfect they are supposed to be for each other.
Don't worry, you haven't forgotten. All evidence suggests that the only thing right in the relationship between Alex and Isabel is really great sex, and I am not discounting the value of really great sex when I say that it's not nearly enough. FOOLS RUSH IN belongs to that class of romantic comedies which demands that you accept the central pairing as celestially foretold, and curse you for a fuddy-duddy with no sense of romance if you object, as John Cleese once did in a classic "Cheers" episode, that the only thing opposites attract is divorce. The essential change in Alex's character turns out to be that he "gets religion" regarding fate, seeing signs everywhere reminding him of Isabel after the two separate. The happy ending doesn't seem to recognize that these people need some serious counseling; apparently the Psychic Friends Network will suffice.
What makes FOOLS RUSH IN all the more frustrating is that there are plenty of moments when it is tremendously entertaining. You don't need to be a fan of "Friends" to appreciate Perry, who can fire darts of sarcasm and do reaction takes with the best of them. He can be both funny and warm, as he is in an appealing sequence at a Fuentes family gathering, and it is easy to feel sympathetic towards Alex despite his near-sighted careerism. Salma Hayek is also quite good, conveying conflicted emotions and frustration, and there is certainly heat between Perry and Hayek (although, let's face it, Hayek could generate heat in a room full of asbestos). But FOOLS RUSH IN needs more than heat. It needs a heart, a sense of connection which comes from friendship as much as fantasy. In a film which throws so many problems and situations at the screen that nothing sticks together, it is ironic that the only thing which does stick together -- Alex and Isabel -- probably shouldn't.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 fool moons: 4.
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