I didn't know much about Frankie Lymon, but when the ads started running for 1998's Why Do Fools Fall In Love?, I knew I'd be one of the first in line to peep this flick. And why wouldn't I? After all, this movie was all about the ladies, as the amazing trio of Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox, and Lela Rochon were cast as Lymon's marital concubine.
When this movie dropped, Larenz Tate was at the height of his post-Love Jones popularity. I never really understood why women were so gaga over a 5-foot-4 midget they wouldn't give the time of day on the street, but hey, I don't have a uterus. Besides, there's lots of other far more profound stuff I also don't understand about black women. O-Dawg is the least of my concerns.
Halle Berry hadn't quite turned into a Hollywood phenom yet. Coming off a star turn in the blockbuster Independence Day (as a stripper, mind you) Fox was nearing her cinematic and physical prime. Rochon couldn't deliver a line if she drove a Verizon truck, and wasn't ever gonna be anything more than Sunshine from Harlem Nights, but they coulda made far worse choices for the third wheel.
But despite having all that going for them, this movie just plain blew chunks. It was one of the rare movies that stunk from the opening credits. I remember watching the opening montage and thinking "Whoa, I just blew $6.50[1] on this?".
The movie is so unremarkable and unmemorable, I can't really recall anything notable about it. Ray it clearly wasn't. Maybe this had something to do with Lymon's relative lack of popularity. Eff' Gregory Abbott, Lymon is a real one-hit-wonder. I mean, seriously, will anyone wanna watch Off On Your Own Girl: The Al B Sure Story 40 years from now? I seriously think not.
The film's entire premise wasn't Lymon's musical legacy, rather his serial womanizing and drug habits. But that in and of itself isn't enough to make people care. So all that's left is an overdone performance by Tate, a complete mail-in job by Berry, and the pretty faces, yet woefully inadequate talents of Fox and Rochon. It's no wonder this clunker crashed and burned.
What is amazing is just how this one bad movie (it barely grossed $12M) completely ethered the careers of everyone involved, except for Berry. Tate went from leading man to greasy-talkin' action-movie sidekick (Crash, A Man Apart, Biker Boyz) almost instantaneously. And that's a shame, cause dude really did have some chops, as seen in movies like Dead Presidents, Menace 2 Society and tv's South Central. I bet he looks at contemporaries like Terrence Howard with the same "that used to be me" wistfulness that Aaron Hall feels when he watches "Trapped In The Closet".[2] It's a shame really.
Fox was never incredibly talented in the first place, and her career took a sharp turn for the worse as well. She's since gone on to be more known for her brief dalliance with 50 Cent, and a startling series of awful plastic surgeries than perhaps anything she's done career-wise. Rochon got married, got pregnant, and got ghost. I haven't seen her on anything since. Where's the milk carton when you really need it?
In spite of this massive cluster, Berry went on to become a household name, forever immortalized by her Oscar winning performance in the equally dreadful Monster's Ball[3]. But to be 100% serious, she hasn't made a movie with any of the emotional depth of her early performances in flicks like Losing Isaiah and Jungle Fever. She's cashed in, but you still sorta feel like she never quite lived up to her full potential, Tracy McGrady-style.
Why Do Fools showed, perhaps better than any movie this side of Kingdom Come, that it takes a lot more to make a good black movie than some relatively well-known names on the marquee.
Question: Did you see Why Do Fools Fall In Love? What did you think? You got any future nominees for this feature?
Frankie Lymon [Wiki]
Why Do Fools Fall In Love? [Wiki]
More of When Bad Movies Happen To Good Casts [AB.com]
[1] Ahhh, $6 movies. Those were the days.
[2] I mean, seriously. Talk about merckin' a guy's career. I bet this dude has nightmares about Robert Sylvester Kelly to this day.
[3] Coming soon. Just gimme some time.
Friday, June 6, 2008
When Bad Movies Happen To Good Casts - Why Do Fools Fall In Love?
Tags Popped: Good Casts Bad Movies, What A DoucheBag
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I can think of so many bad movies that happened to good casts!
1. Code Name, the Cleaner. I really wanted to like this because of Ceddie...I couldn't.
2. Daddy Day Camp
3. Daddy Day Care
4. Norbit
5. Cat Woman
...just to name a few!
I MUST have a soft spot for the millenium blaxplotation films because I really liked "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" and honestly, I hold "Kingdom Come" at the tops of some movie lists.
Granted I was 14 when WDFFIL came out though.
But as far as the Kingdom Come reference, I thought it included just the right amount of over-the-top acting that moved the entire movie into that of the comical, but it was done by A-list black actors. In addition to that, I've experienced familial funerals quite much like that, some things in the movie were PAINFULLY true as far as my life was concerned.
Interesting story happened recently about "Kingdom Come" however. I was around a bunch of white people (per my current internship) and I mentioned Kingdom Come as having a soundtrack that I really liked and of course one of the guys said he'd never heard of it. So I said "Oh Whoopi Goldberg, Anthony Anderson, LL Cool J and Vivica Fox were in it." To which the white boy's response was "Oh it was a hip hop movie?"
JLL
I didn't watch this movie, Menace II Society or Love Jones. I *HATE* Lorenz Tate.
L'il Punk.
EG
Ahhh Man... Why did you have to go and ruin a good thing... I think this is the first time I will have to disagree with you bro!.. That movie was pretty good... Ray?? No. Not even close. But it was still good though. And offered a little bit of history... True I hadn't really heard of the guy before the movie and didn't really care that much about him once the credits rolled... But it was pretty interesting while I was wathing it.. Maybe I just like Tate.. I thought it was good though.
I bet he looks at contemporaries like Terrence Howard with the same "that used to be me" wistfulness that Aaron Hall feels when he watches "Trapped In The Closet".
Or the way that Ginuwine looks at Justin Timberlake's career.
I bring this up all the time with folk in this movie. My problem wasn't the cast ... it was the plot.
Now I understood why three woman would fall for Larenz Tate as Frankie Lymon ... but Frankie Lymon looked more like Gary Coleman.
How was able to pull those three women at the same time?
I kind of liked the movie, but then again I'll watch pretty much anything set in the early 60s for the costumes and set design.
Aw Man, AB, I'm another dis-agree-er with you on this one. I actually enjoyed this movie, despiteth Lil Richard's shameless self-plug scene in the courtroom, it was actually a compelling story ;) Who can forget the scene where Frankie accidentally dropped Vivica's dog out of the window? If that wasn't a tear-jerker (whichever way you wanna look at it--I was ROLLIN!!), I don't know what was!!
And EG, sounds like somethin kinda personal right there. Hate the dude? What has he ever done to you to evoke such a strong emotional response?
Oh yeah, AB, you were jie wrong on the Three can play that Game one too---that jawn was WHACKalicious!!
Wow, everyone's opinion is so different. I don't think WDFFIL was a bad movie at all. It was entertaining for what it was. It is pretty much the African American equivalent of "Selena", as it should've been given that both films shared the same director (Gregory Nava).
You seem to be kinda a hater, tho, AB. First you rag on Gregory Abbott and TJ Holmes, now Larenz. Let the ladies like who they like. I don't get mad because I know I can out-stunt any of these dudes! LOL.
Back to the movie ...Vivica had the best performance. Lela was good (very underrated actress). Halle on the other hand, as always, was the weakest link. That woman is such a weak actress. Her performance is Jungle Fever was a laugh riot. So unrealistic. Thankfully, her lack of depth and universally good looks helped her rise to become Hollywood's offical Safe Token Negress in Hollywood ...11 years after her first big role.
That's H-Town for ya!
Frankie Lymon is a legend. He inspired the Michael Jacksons and Princes and all of the young, male singers. Traces of his performance style and singing are evident in many artists, old and new. (i.g. from MJ to New Edition to Chris Brown and Omarion). So, I don't know where you get "insignificant one hit wonder" from. Gotta know your musical history, AB!
(Although he only lived to the age of 26, Lymon had the most bizarre, tragic life story ...that would've taken a 3-hour film to fully capture!)
@ missy
Great list! I can use a few of those.
@ EG
Good to see someone has my back. This film was horrendous!
@ mynameis
Boy, if you think I'm hatin' now, wait'll you see what I've got in store for ya'll Monday.
Whoa. Hold the Phone. For a series inspired by Thembistyle, I am so mad at you. This movie was FANTASTIC and I run the dvd at least occasionally.
Ok I know I said that any movie with Miguel Nunez is an auto-failure, but you didnt even mention his woeful attempt at Little Richard in this flick. And I'll admit that an Al B Sure biopic, as mad as I am at you for the predicted title, would be 90 minutes of suffering. There are also mutiple moments of contrived expression (for example, when Frankie first meets Zola - ugh, it was so phony).
Maybe it's just the coon in me, but the musical numbers and the vibe behind them totally carried Fools. I also love Grease and Little Shop of Horrors, so even the lowest quality black musical movie HAS to be a classic! Really, what else do we have for that B-movie musical vibe? Not only that, but because I am a female, the way they depicted each woman really caring about Frankie but getting totally played sealed it for me. The real Frankie ... hm, I dunno, but Larenz? I'd let him put me through a little bit before that final death blow.
All of that said, there are some wack-a-licous performances in this movie, and the quality of the cast does not equal the sum of its parts. But come on, AB, anything that makes you sing and dance with music that pre-dates the vocoder needs to be given a pass.
Christopher said "but Frankie Lymon looked more like Gary Coleman."
When this movie came out, I said the same thing. I wonderd why didn't cast Gary. He really needed the job at the time.
But at least WDFFIL was better than Welcome home Roscoe Jenkins, and The Cookout.
The Cookout was lousy.
I got a nominee for a bad movie: Jaleel White in "Who Made Tha 'Potatoe' Salad?"
Yeah. Potatoe.
And I already told AB about this one:
"Holiday Heart"
Ving Rhames plays a drag queen. Alfre Woodard plays a crackhead.
VING F'N RHAMES!!!!! He gets punked by Bubba Blue from Forrest Gump! A man more than half his size!!!
@kesi:
And as for hating Lorenz Tate...there was just something in my spirit that couldn't click with that perpetual smirk he had on his face.
But there is one other man in movies that I hate most of all. My wife *hearts* him...that is:
Michael Ealy. "Teacake" from 'Their Eyes Were Watching God.' and "Ricky" from the 'Barbershop' movies.
He thinks that he's so ghetto cool.
Oh, from hell's heart do I spit my last breath at him.
EG
I never say the movie, but Ill make sure it doesnt end up in my netflix que. Missy, Norbit was hilarious.
I never saw the movie, but Ill be sure it doesnt end up in my netflix que. By the way Missy, Norbit was hilarious.
I enjoyed it. I loved the cast and I found it funny. *Shrugs*
No, I didn't like this movie very much at all. I think the story line was interesting, but did not translate well at all on the big screen and the acting in some parts was quite weak. The courtroom finale came across as some kind of comedic parody and did not fit well with the general theme of the movie which up to that point had been quite dark and human.
I don't have a real opinion about the movie either way. Good or bad...I haven't seen it since I saw it and I don't think I will so I guess it didn't do anything for me. I will say that Lorenz was good in Love Jones...I love that movie! And he did take his career downhill for signing up for this movie. It also made it worse when they showed the real Frankie Lymon at the end...I mean...what was that? He really pulled all of those chicks? Get outta here!
What about Idlewild? I didn't care for that one too much either.
I didn't like the film, much like I didn't like The Five Heartbeats and whatever-else music-saga-stardom-60s-70s biopic film that came out during the 90s, etc. I viewed it once but it's forgettable as I can barely remember what went on. I think I'd rather much have a documentary on past-artists like Lymon or whomever, than to have a fictionalized movie such as this. Documentaries are more interesting and easier to watch in that there's less cringing when bad lines are delivered.
I love the Five Heartbeats!
Eddie King, Jr...while still a crackhead, trying to repair ties to the group that kicked him out, flashes his glittery vest.
"Nannnnnnnnnggggg!"
Comedy Gold.
EG
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