Thursday 4 January 2018

Retro Review: Fools Rush In (1997)

Fools Rush In
1997
Cast: Matthew Perry, Selma Hayek, Jon Tenney, Carlos Gomez
Genre: Romantic Comedy
U.S Box Office Gross: over $29 million

Plot: After a one-night stand with Alex, Isabel realises that she is pregnant & they decide to get married. However, along with the marriage comes compromise of one's own cultural complications 






'Forgettable Rom-Com Of Almost Foolish Proportions'

During the 1990s, actor Matthew Perry, was riding on a crest of a wave on the sitcom, Friends as Chandler Bing; and alas, he was the next 'friend' in line to Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt Le Blanc, David Schwimmer & Courtney Cox to get his Hollywood movie big- break. With that, he made his first full leading man appearance in a little-known rom-com vehicle titled Fools Rush (the title is probably in reference to the Elvis Presley hit, ''Can't Help Falling In Love'') that was released in 1997. Coincidentally, that same year saw the success of Picture Perfect and it catapulted Aniston to new heights; meanwhile, things were the opposite for Perry and Fools Rush In. & in watching this offering, it clearly shows.  

It's such a shame however that his partnership with Salma Hayek just doesn't work well. & with Perry with a different actress or Hayek with a different actor, more believability and real passion in the relationship, Fools Rush In would come off way better than what is being served here. 

An interracial rom-com sees construction business executive/designer in Alex who heads to Las Vegas and having a one- night- stand with Isabel, who then disappears out of the blue in the early hours. Fast forward three months later, she reappears and shows up and announces to him that she is pregnant. They get married. But then, secrets start to unravel that they never knew before & they realise that perhaps things just weren't meant to be for Alex and Isabel. 

I sat through this thing, and honestly, it just didn't kick in and take shape as I expected it to. 

Unlike his former Friends' co-star, Jennifer Aniston, personally speaking, Matthew Perry cannot carry a rom-com and he just doesn't have that extra quality to convince as a romantic male lead in these types of films. As Alex, he just doesn't do anything to differentiate himself from his famous TV role character. His performance here was a little too identical to Chandler. Whilst with Hayek, I did say earlier the role might have worked better for her, had she had a different actor, but even Hayek here just doesn't really say or do much to impress me. 

Also in Rom-coms, you need a male/female acting pairing who you could truly sense as a potential coupling - yet Perry and Hayek are a total mismatch as a coupling and I just cannot picture them together, properly. Watching them together, they were not an ideal fit for one another. 

It wasn't hard to see why and how this got lost amongst the hundreds of other Rom-coms that have floated around, ever since the success of Pretty Woman in 1990 blew up and opened the doors for more movies of this type to prop up on the market. There is virtually nothing here that grabbed me and kept me invested in the story and as much as I hate to say this but as a romantic duo, Hayek and Perry were and are a complete and utter mismatch. The stuff in between the romance should be as engaging and watchable, but it is not. 

The story, the formula, the set-up has been done so many times, countless times before and after this movie came out. There is virtually nothing that I haven't seen before here that has been attempted in other so-called Rom-coms. The jokes, gags, the familiarity of it all is all too apparent and in some or most cases, it has been conceived better elsewhere. Fools Rush In is too long, very contrived and the plot is heavily disjointed with a story that became more boring as it went on. For Perry, sadly, his transition from TV to film, was shortlived. The film doing moderately well, financially has probably more to do with Hayek's presence than Perry's, although we can say, or I can say this is not their best work by any stretch of the imagination from either of them. 

Extremely flat and with very little charm, and I just didn't feel that chemistry off Perry and Hayek and in all Fools Rush In just wasn't very watchable, nor exceptional & held my attention for long for me. 






Final Verdict:

Opposites attract Rom-com that sinks like a melting iceberg, the plot drags on for far too long with a male and female star pairing that just didn't click properly. Personally, it's just too forgettable with not enough charming and romantic moments.


Only worth recommending to fans of Matthew Perry. 


Overall:


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