| Now here's a movie that isn't making enough money at the box office, so future projects like it will never get green-lighted and then we will be faced with more variants on Fools Rush In. |
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Doug Ellin (with James Frey) has written an interesting and honest character based romantic comedy that actually ends up working a little more like real life.
Ellin directs David Schwimmer (in a very un-Ross-from-Friends character) and Jason Lee (from the Kevin Smith acting stable) in a pretty male-oriented film. Most romantic comedies tend to skew towards the feminine characters feelings, and Kissing a Fool seems remarkably in touch with the out-of-touch-with-their-feelings set. It's a movie a guy can feel comfortable in, I think. Schwimmer and Lee are like night and day, yet are also two sides of the same coin. Excuse the cliche, but it's the best way to describe them. |
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| If you don't see yourself (male or female) or someone you know in one of these guys, well, I'm frightened. It's a dialogue driven movie - a framing story sets up the ending (a wedding) and the scenes that are the meat of the plot are narrative flashback, and I found the dialogue to be very real and natural and honest. OK, sure, I'm a female, but most of my guy friends talk to me like that. |
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The lack of typical romantic comedy "isn't this cute?" music makes the scenes more voyeuristic and intimate, rather than a fluffy diversion. We feel like we are in the room with them, because it is quiet except for the talking. It isn't theatrical, however, so it's accessible to the non-theatre going crowd as well.
Mimi Avital is the woman, and she as an actress appears to have more comedic potential than was mined for this movie, but overall she avoided becoming what could have been a flat love triangle prize for the guys, rather than a real person involved. In other words, Avital saved her character from being unreal. For those fighting to place the accent, Avital is Israeli. |
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Sure, the whole love triangle thing is telegraphed by the framing story, but the fun is in the telling. We don't actually know the outcome (though the framing story listeners do) for certain, but we have an idea. Bonnie Hunt is a lonely woman, a fourth perspective on relationships, who is mainly outside the main story, yet somehow is integral to it, so she "narrates." There is precious little if any voice over, thank heavens! If it's used at all (I didn't notice) it is as a segue and not as a story engine.
Go see it with someone with whom you are not sure you should be. I liked it and I dug it, if you know what I mean. |
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It's funny and engaging, even though it is languidly paced and not all MTV's out the wazoo. It's quite refreshing, really, and not what you expect. The marketing department for Universal is really making it look substandard. :(
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