Pssst, want to check out Kissing a Fool in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 1998
- Runtime
- 93 min.
- Director
- Doug Ellin
- Genres
- Romance, Comedy
- Rating *
- 5.6
- Votes *
- 4,087
- Checks
- 166
- Favs
- 3
- Dislikes
- 9
- Favs/checks
- 1.8% (1:55)
- Favs/dislikes
- 1:3
Top comments
-
CinemaDump
Kissing a Fool came out when the TV series Friends was still in full swing. If you're David Schwimmer, why not take a dive into the world of romantic comedy? Not only did he star in it, he was the executive producer. He had already had some experience producing with a film called Shoot the Moon but no one really watched it. The stars are definitely more favourably lined up for Kissing a Fool with Jason Lee on board who had starred in two Kevin Smith films previously.
Based on a short story in Don Quixote, Kissing a Fool takes an overused love triangle plot and tries to turn it into a fast talking, Woody Allen-esque romantic comedy. Writers James Frey and Doug Ellin don't have the chops though to deliver on such a lofty goal and the movie falls flat in the end.
David Schwimmer plays a dumb, egocentric and commitment fearing sports newscaster who is like every similar minded character you've ever seen on film. Jason Lee on the other hand is the nice, sensitive novelist and this begs the question, why are they friends? They're basically nothing alike but they play the only two dualities that Hollywood would like us to believe exists.
Lee's Jay Murphy sets up Schwimmer's Max Abbit with Sam Andrews who is played by Mili Avital. They hit it off right away and plan to get married very quickly. Turns out that since Max is suddenly very aware that he doesn't like commitment he wants Jay to try and get Sam to sleep with him as a test to see if she would be loyal to him. This is all told in flashback form with a character played by Bonnie Hunt recounting the tale.
It's pretty clear that Kissing a Fool offers nothing new. The type of characters that Jay and Max are seem to be as old as time. One thing I find a little strange though is how much swearing there is. Not that I'm a prude or anything but it just seemed very misplaced and overused. I guess David Schwimmer really wanted a break from his regular TV language but it takes more than just empty swearing to make a movie edgy.
The laughs are pretty few and far between and the script likes to bellow where the story is going instead of giving mild hints here and there. Nothing is unexpected whatsoever. The modern day romantic comedy isn't very well known for surprising its viewers but all the same, Kissing a Fool couldn't be more obvious about its intentions.
I get the feeling though that David Schwimmer had a blast doing this movie. He wanted a break from his usual grind and he plays his role with glee. Kissing a Fool flopped in the end, taking in only $4 million against a $19 million budget. That's pretty steep but Schwimmer's got the cash/will get the cash so I don't feel very bad. This was a vacation for Schwimmer and I think the rest of the cast had fun as well with him.
Trying to emulate Woody Allen's style is a tall order. It's possible that this wasn't the goal but it really seems like it with all the talking in the beginning as well as its style of dialogue. The comedy part of the romantic comedy fails to create any legitimate laughs and the romance part also fails to deliver. Kissing a Fool is watchable in the sense that you might be doing something else at the same time but as primary entertainment, the cracks show.
5/10 10 years 1 month ago