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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Why Do Fools Fall In Love
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 out of 4
Review by MrBrown
3 stars out of 4
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As the summer popcorn season winds down, and the weightier fall/holiday
season begins, here arrives a smoothly executed "transition" film, which
tackles some fairly serious subject matter in a fun, entertaining,
guilt-free package. _Why_Do_Fools..._ centers on the court battle between
the late doo wop singer Frankie Lymon's (Larenz Tate) three
wives--glamorous singer Zola Taylor (Halle Berry), petty thief Elizabeth
Waters (Vivica A. Fox), and demure schoolmarm Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon)--
for his estimated $4 million estate . Testimony-stemmed flashbacks
chronicle Lymon's quick rise to fame as the lead singer of the Teenagers
(famous for the classic title song), his equally quick fall into obscurity
and drugs, and the circumstances behind his untimely death.
Director Gregory Nava's recreation of Lymon's late '50s-early '60s
performances are exuberant, buoyed by Tate's charismatic performance,
which, in turn, provides a sympathetic anchor when things turn dark. The
lighter court storyline is a bit more cliched and stereotyped, with all the
verbal catfights between the women, but the appealing trio of Berry,
Rochon, and especially Fox (in the showiest role of the three) make the
proceedings enjoyable. These two contrasting sides, Lymon's tragically
short existence and the battle between the three widows, are meshed
together with ease into a pleasing cinematic confection by Nava, a proven
hand musical biographies (_Selena_).
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