kissing a fool * 1/2 directed by doug ellin . written by james frey and ellin from a story by frey . photography , thomas del ruth . productiondesign , charles breen . editing , favid finfer . music , joseph vitarelli . cast : david schimmer ( max abbitt ) , jason lee ( jay murphy ) , mili avital ( samantha andrews ) , bonnie hunt ( linda ) , vanesa angel ( natasha ) , et al . a universal release . 93 minutes . rated r ( strong sexual content , coarse language ) it opens with some beautiful aerial shots of chicago to the sounds a song ( written and sung by harry connick ) that 's like a " romantic " insipidity , a throwback to several generations ago . a wedding is taking place on a splendid suburban estate . right away , the film starts playing transparent , cutesy-coy little " guess who ? guess what ? " games with the audience . the groom is not identified . a rather tipsy vulgarian , linda ( hunt ) seems to be a lesser ( or uninvited ) guest who needs to talk -- to anybody -- but soon reveals that she is the hostess , the owner of the place . she plays her game with an unprepossessing , dumb-looking fellow and his fiancee , taunting them with the story of max and jay . it comes out in episodes . jay and max have been best friends since childhood . you realize instantly the artificiality of this . jay , a sensitive young man now working on his first novel , cannot get over his having been dumped by his girl natasha , who became a model , went to paris , was and still is a tramp . an unlikely couple and another artificial situation . jay's novel is based on his experiences . some book ! max is a popular sportscaster and a stud . when it comes to women , he leaves no stone unturned . he is a foul-mouthed egotist . he has no aids , but give him time . he may know about passes , in football games or in bars , but he is abysmally uneducated . linda ( see above ) is a wealthy publisher . she will bring out jay's book , and assigns to him samantha ( israeli actress mili avital ) as editor , . jay , for some reason , persists in setting up a date between sam and max . max loudly , coarsely and volubly refuses , but jay wins . cut to a haggard max knocking on jay's door with his tale of woe about that date . cut to sam doing ditto with a diametrically opposed story . hey , this might turn out to be a fin-de-siecle " rashomon " ! it's not . it's just a practical joke . max and sam have fallen in love instantly and plan to marry . never mind that they are opposites , that max says " i hate books , she hates sports . " never mind that max is really an untraveled yokel and sam a worldly sophisticate . so what's the answer ? there isn't one , not any more than there's a key to the impossible friendship between the artistic jay and the crass max . i've always thought that the " opposites attract " theory is mucho hooey . max moves in with sam . three weeks later , he gets cold feet as he ponders about his future as a husband and probably a father . two big worries . number one is expressed : will sam be faithful to him ? number two is , i guess , subconscious and unexpressed : will , i , max , have to give up all those chicks ? so max will test sam . so max will ask pal jay to hit on sam , then we'll see . by now the film is 35 minutes old . jay , that decent , self-pitying soul , won't hear of it . but somehow , as he works closely with sam on his book , he falls for her , and she for him . they have much in common . just happens they've both been to that same restaurant in a small italian town -- and they ooh and aah about it . and other such things . conveniently too , max has gone to detroit on an assignment . with a girl . jay and sam go to a strip-bar where they encounter , of all people , the notorious natasha back from france . she is now natassia . sam , getting closer and closer to jay , plays the game , introduces herself as claudette . jason : : " she is my fiancee . " that's wishful thinking . let's cut to the chase . there are 3-way confrontations ; faithful friend jay moves to new york ; max moves out of sam's apartment . months pass . jay's book is a big hit , max gets jay back to chicago and reunites him with sam . we return to the framing story of the wedding of sam and jay . max , dancing with publisher linda , tells her : " so , you have money . i do too . that's good . " the end a crass tale ? yes . a perverted variant and great-grandchild of the really romantic cyrano story ? perhaps . max comes to terms with the situation during jay's stay in the big apple , after he ( the i-hate-books fellow ) has read a book , probably the only one in his life , a gift from jay . another colossal improbability . the leather-bound volume is not " the further adventures of superman " or " sex for tv personalities " but " maxims , " by the great french moralist la rochefoucauld ( 1613-1680 ) . give us a break ! who's trying to impress whom with " cultcha . " the scriptwriters showing off theirs ? and who could possibly ever but ever believe that the cute , intelligent , educated sam would fall for the creep max ? and who could possibly ever but ever doubt , that sooner or later jay and sam would become an item ? or , for that matter , that jay's book is a huge best-seller ? ( i admit that this is less of a stretch than the rest , since so many bad novels do sell well ) . now , the curious thing is that this dumb movie had some passing attractions and did often keep my attention . unhealthy curiosity ? the sights and sounds of chicago ? good photography ? frankly i can't tell without seeing it again , in the comfort of my tv screen that is . one item that did strike me is the magic of the movies . not special effects but the fact that mili avital looked pretty in all the scenes , beautiful in others , very beautiful in others yet . amazing what lighting , makeup , camera angles , clothing and such can do . " le mauvais gout mene au crime " ( stendhal ) edwin jahiel's movie reviews are at <a href= " http : //www . prairienet . org/ejahiel " >http : //www . prairienet . org/ejahiel</a> 
