Kissing a Fool

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.

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.

With those stunning camera shots of Chicago and that snappy Harry Connick, Jr. song in the title sequence, "Kissing A Fool" gets off to a great start. And I liked Bonnie Hunt as the story's narrator. But the film suffers from a plot that is too predictable and from characters whose behavior is not believable.

This is one of those movies that you can see the end coming a mile away. There are virtually no plot twists to deflect the story's straight-line trajectory. As such, the story is almost too simple and unimaginative to be worth telling. To varying degrees, most romantic comedies are fairly shallow. But "Kissing A Fool" has no subtlety at all, not in plot, not in characters, not in dialogue.

Lacking any complexity, the story relies on two main characters, Jay (Jason Lee) and Max (David Schwimmer) whose behavior toward each other is not believable. They're supposed to be best buddies. But they are constantly at each other's throats. Their constant arguing not only is annoying; it calls into question their friendship. How can they be best buddies?

The two are not at all alike. Jay is bookish and cerebral; Max is your typical arrogant, cocky self-centered sports freak jerk. All that animosity between these two guys does not lend credibility to their "friendship"; yet, it is the main contrivance that propels the film's plot. Further, it renders a story conclusion that is, by extension, also not believable.

The film's acting is a tad exaggerated. I like Jason Lee, but he tends to overact in this film. Mili Avital, as the girl in between, is okay, but she doesn't have much to do. And David Schwimmer's performance is something of a hyper-masculine strut-fest. Some subtlety in acting would have helped a lot.

For all that, "Kissing A Fool" is still worth watching, once. It has credible production values, and there are occasional lines of dialogue that are funny. And I think the film's underlying concept is fine. I just wish the script and the acting could have been a little more nuanced and subtle.

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.

every character in this film is totally dislikeable, I very rarely agree with Leonard Maltin but this movie is definitely awful. The David Schwimmer character is more likeable than the Jason Lee character but not very much, which doesnt work because Lee is supposedly the "hero" of the story. He's whining, pathetic and annoying. In reality, neither deserves to get the girl.