Une fiancée pour deux

The story opens with a bride and groom kissing at their marriage service but you only get to see the face of the bride. This is a clue for us. We are going to have to figure out as we watch the film which guy is going to end up being the groom. The picture on the front of the video box has already showed us a bride being kissed from one side by Schwimmer and simultaneously from the other by Lee so we know the race for romance is going to be between the two of them. (This release, with Dutch subtitles, has a different picture to the US video/ IMDb picture.)

Yet in the first five minutes Linda the publisher tells us, not once, but twice that she introduced the bride and groom. We cut to a flashback of her introducing the two of them to each other, just in case we still don't get it. Then within another five minutes Jay the writer (Lee) is introducing Sam, his editor (Avital) to Max the sports caster and general foul-mouthed ignoramus (Schwimmer). IF the publisher is telling us the truth, doesn't this just kinda rule Max out of the contest for the first person to kiss the bride? Or have I missed something here?

This film is about as predictable as trying to guess which kind of white meat will feature most often on Thanksgiving dinner tables this year. I'll tell you; it will be turkey. And this movie sure is one.

But it is not just the plot and direction that are hugely lacking. Schwimmer is totally unbelievable and badly miscast as Max. His mouth moves, the words come out, but they lack any conviction whatsoever. The character of Jay the writer is such a whiney loser (with possibly the worst hairstyle in recent movie history) that I began to dread every screen appearance he made. He seemed to communicate in a series of whinging questions: "What are you doing here?" "So what??" "And??" I have absolutely no idea why the two of them were friends; they had nothing in common and were always bitching at each other. The script was very weak in places: Jay's explanation of why he had introduced Max to Sam provoked for me the biggest guffaw of the film (one of the very few). Best part of the film? The Harry Connick Jr. song over the opening credits.

Overall, it gets a 3; a waste of my time and money - it was I who was the FOOL for not reading Roger Ebert's review BEFORE going to the video shop. If you are looking for a nice romantic comedy get While You Were Sleeping, The Philadelphia Story, As Good As It Gets or anything else on the IMDb list of top 50 Romance films.

The story is told as a flashback from Linda Streicher (Bonnie Hunt) at their wedding. Max (David Schwimmer) is a womanizing sleaze. Jay (Jason Lee) is his best friend. Jay introduces Sam (Mili Avital) from work to Max and they hit it right off. Three weeks later, they are set to marry.

David Schwimmer is completely miscast as the womanizing stud who's every girl's dream. Somebody really needs to stub him with that toothpick. Maybe they should have switched his role with Jason Lee. And without any spoilers, let's just say the scheme breaks all kinds of bro code. And it's completely manufactured strictly for rom-coms. The jokes all fall flat. Mili Avital is functional as the lead, but considering they had the much funnier Judy Greer, and hotter Kari Wuhrer in the same movie, she pales in comparison. Jason Lee is the only one that does a great job. He plays a slightly nerdy lovable writer. Only he needs better partners to play opposite to.

This was a sweetheart of a movie. From a technical point of view, the photography was just right for the moments. If anyone has ever dismissed David Schwimmer as a pouty, whiny lout (such the characters from "FRIENDS" and "The Pallbearer"), take a good look at his Max in this and you'll see the complete opposite. Max is a vulgar, arrogant, misogynistic , bitter ass. His fellow player, Jason Lee, plays a pouty, whiny lout (as opposed to the vulgar, arrogant, misogynistic, bitter roles he was made famous by, in Brodie Bruce and Banky Edwards) who, as probably already told to you here on IMDb, is lorn of his slutty model girlfriend. Max has fallen for Sam, his attractive young publisher who he feels is too good to be true. So, he asks his best friend Jay (Lee) to see if Sam will hit on him, thus figuring out if she is the one. This test of course, is a thin veiled attempt to breach the contract called commitment, which blah blah blah, the story ends rather nicely. Not really what you expect. The flaw of this film is the forced conflicts presented, the rushed and implausible sequences that appear all too soon, and the unnecessary characters.

BUT I URGE YOU ALL READING THIS: GO RENT KISSING A FOOL! It, despite a few cons, is the kind of romantic comedy you hope for when you stand in line for "You've Got Mail" and get crap. Quirky, metropolitan, pampered, and concise, this flick will hit the spot, man.

This film belongs to the infamous group of movies where i sit in the theater wondering "should i be somewhere (anywhere) else?" That isn't a bad review. It's just a comment on worth. The movie is decent enough at what it wants to be--perhaps a little of a stretch at times. It does, however, have one redeeming quality: Jason Lee.

This man makes the movie. He is a little more constrained than he is in his Kevin Smith films but still his desert-in-a-drought-and-more humor strikes me as the unbelievably funny. If you like it dry, and some do, you've could check this movie out, just for Mr. Lee...well, and for the nastiest David Schwimmer i've ever seem...all i can say is "what up?"

You should be thinking "this review is lukewarm" because it is. So is the film. It's not brilliant or ground-breaking but it's funny. Worth a dollar or two on a slow night.

I didn't have expectations for this one. I watched it on LATE local t.v. But the cast really had me intrigued. David Schwimmer, Jason Lee, the beautiful Mili Avital, Vanessa Angel, Mili Avital among others deliver a great performance. The cast is really good and seems that they had great chemistry between them.

The movie had the occasional funny situations and some smart dialogs. Then I thought I was watching an episode of "Friends". The acting, dialogs, and even direction made this look like a sitcom.

Still I have a good time with this movie. It's funny and romantic at some points. Of course, with the typical American humor.

Give it a try, I can see why it's considered to be an underrated comedy.