First published in The Connecticut College Voice on 6 March 1998.
Republished here with minor editorial adjustments that do not affect content.
The main problems with Doug Ellin’s romantic comedy Kissing a Fool are that it is incredibly predictable and not funny. The film opens with a wedding between a woman, Sam, played by Israeli actress Mili Avital and a man whom we can not see. Bonnie Hunt is Sam’s boss as well as the hostess of the wedding. She sits down with a couple of schlumpy wedding guests and begins to tell the predictable story of how the bride and groom got together.
David Schwimmer plays Max Abbitt, a popular Chicago sportscaster and notorious womanizer. He and Jay (Jason Lee) are childhood best friends. Jay has been in mourning and without sex for a year due to his ex-girlfriend, Natasha, having broken his heart. Sam is his book editor and he introduces her to Max. The two hit it off immediately and are engaged within two weeks. Max gets nervous about the prospect of being with only one woman for the rest of his life and enlists Jay to ‘test’ Sam. He wants Jay to seduce her to find out if she would be loyal. When Sam’s boss pushes up their deadline, the two have to spend a lot more time together and Jay’s affection for Sam begins to surface.
