Fool's Paradise

This was like a very long, 98 minutes long and dragged out failed SNL sketch. I'm a fan of Charlie Day and he's a great comedian, but putting yourself in a funny film and choosing not to use your comedic trademark funny voice is what failed this film. And that's too bad, as it started out good, not laugh out loud good, but constant smiling and entertaining good. But you can only go so far on silent charm, and can only take so much satirical un-funny comedy. It was great to see the lovely Kate Beckinsale, and Jeong was his usual blast as well, and it was also great to see the late Ray Liotta doing his thing in what is probably the last film he made, but it's too bad this film was more of a flop than it was fun. The story was mostly long dragged out and incoherent nonsense that lacked any good comedy or sharp satire. It's a generous 4/10 for all the stars that I'm sure mostly donated their time for this mess.

For reference, I think It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the funniest show ever made. And I think the character Charlie Kelly played by Charlie Day is one of the funniest characters in TV or movie history. I was ecstatic to see him have a chance to write, direct and star in a theatrically released movie with a great cast.

There's so much about Fool's Paradise I enjoyed. The premise is instantly funny. Charlie Day's performance had me cracking up. Many other parts had me full-volume laughing, especially when it relates to Adrien Brody's character. I loved seeing many of the Always Sunny cast members with random small roles.

There are a few things that, for me, prevent it from being great. The first half of the movie is infinitely funnier than the second half, which had almost no laughs from me. And while I enjoyed the humorous parts, the more serious parts and character moments didn't work for me.

But the biggest issue is that Ken Jeong, who is seemingly the lead of this movie, didn't make me laugh at all. I've found him fairly funny in most of his smaller roles. But it doesn't seem like he can carry a movie.

I still had a good time with Fool's Paradise. I hope it allows Charlie Day more opportunities to create comedy, especially in an age when comedy movies seem to be nearing extinction. I will watch anything he's in. (1 viewing, 5/11/2023)

A mute John Doe (Charlie Day) is found in a mental institution with the capacity of a five year old. He is released into LA where he is picked up by a movie producer (Ray Liotta). The producer is tired of the star of his movie and intends to use our doppelganger John Doe as a stand-in to replace his star. Lenny (Ken Jeong) is a weasel "publicist" who mistakenly calls John Doe "Latte Pronto" due to the producer's coffee demands. Latte is on his way to becoming a big Hollywood star.

This is a fascinating movie. Someday, someone will dissect this movie to determine why it's not funny. The most obvious reason is that Charlie Day is playing a mute. He has one of the most comedic voices in the world today. People laugh just by the sound of it. It's like an NBA player saying he'll play while having his hands tied behind his back. Sometimes, actors like to go 180 opposite their strength to show that they have undiscovered depths. They go against their popular narrative. In this one, he's trying to do his version of The Tramp. The character construction is too sloppy. He is literally a blank. Instead of a living breathing character, he is a hole on the screen. There is nothing there.

His nothingness may be the point. The movie is satirizing Hollywood and its nothingness quality. In that, this is not breaking any new cinematic grounds. It is ridiculous without being funny. Ken Jeong's over the top character Lenny is almost there at first until he meets Latte. There is a puzzling hole with Latte that overwhelms any chance for humor. The movie just dies.

Just to be clear Charlie Day is among my favourite comedic actors ever, IASIP is a masterpiece. For that reason I had extremely high hopes for Fool' Paradise, however my rating of 7 is generous. Fool's paradise slightly misses the mark with concept, does not have enough laughs (most coming from Adrien Brody) and it felt clear that the ending was written years after the body of the script. Charlie Day was funny but not nearly expressive enough for a silent character, 90% of the time he was showing just confusion. This film was carried by an amazing cast who all delivered excellent performances and Charlie Day's direction which was smooth and shows clear potential. Overall it was a lacking script but I 1000% would watch another film written and directed by Charlie Day as there were obvious signs of potential.

Just a total snooze fest. It's been said in other reviews, and I'm not normally one to pile on, but dead lord... what happened here? I like Charlie Day just fine, the rest of the cast is good, the plot is of course quite dumb which isn't always a bad thing in a comedy such as this one, but it's simply not funny... ever, at all. It's just like the world's worst episode of curb your enthusiasm or something where there's no script at all and we're all expected to find it funny because the actors were funny in other things we've already seen.

I am someone who sticks out bad movies - almost always - but I gave up and stopped watching a little more than halfway through. I just didn't care, wasn't laughing, and had better things to do.

Skip this one.