Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998)

Excellent, a Must See

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

A movie about a one hit wonder and three wives that claim to be the true widow of Frankie Lymon. Of course everyone has heard the famous song, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" from the radio no matter what age you are (I am 21 and first heard it from American Graffiti about 5 years ago.) Before the movie was released, I saw a segment on Entertainment Tonight about the three REAL wives and what they went through in court. The only difference between these women and the women in the movie (all well played by Halle, Vivica and Lela) is that they did not wind up friends. In the movie Larenz Tate portrays Frankie as a liar and a drug addict who told those women stories so that he could have someone to be with, and these women were blown away by him. But the real question is: Who was legally married to him at the time of his death? But Frankie was a smooth talker in the movie and he charmed everyone. It is not a great movie, but it is worth watching. 3/5 stars.

Frankie Lymon died of a drug overdose in 1968.As a big one hit wonder with his song "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" Lymon might have received some royalties from the record, but didn't. When three former wives hear a version of the song done by Diana Ross,they want to sue for royalties but first each of the three women must win a court case to prove who was the real and legal wife of Frankie Lymon. The movie "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" is a shoddy and disrespectful look into the life of Frankie Lymon. The movie is truly about these three women trying to win the royalties of the song, not to prove they really loved Frankie Lymon. It is bad enough that Hollywood makes a movie about a black male celebrity that Hollywood always brings up the details of Lymon's drug use and points to him for the audience that he is a loser after his singing days are over. We never get a true look at Frankie Lymon and his life.Where did the movie fail in one big detail? Lymon was not as short as the actor who portrayed him ,the talented Larenz Tate,he grew up to over six feet tall.His singing voice changed of course,he couldn't sing those sweet songs of his youth,but he had a decent voice in his adult years. But no one wanted the grown up Frankie Lymon.They wanted this little kid with the falsetto voice,not the adult Frankie Lymon and he couldn't get noticed in the new R&B market that came to pass in the sixties. His story ,and the story of his former group the Teenagers,was done quite well in a PBS documentary about the group called "I Promise To Remember".This was shown several years ago and it is worth while to look at about what happen to the group ,where they are now(where they were at the time of the broadcast),and and what happened to Frankie in truth.It is a well done program. The movie is not,however.Filled with profanity,the women come off as bitter uneducated jerks only going for the money.The film and the film makers in essence then to degrade the subject as a three timing drug taking failure.The film lowers itself then as the wives complain about Frankie and start the feminist cant about men in general and Frankie in particular.It doesn't bother the filmakers that Lymon's real life family has to watch him being dragged thru the mud and embarrassed and that they have to have him and themselves disgraced in this fashion. The three women got thankfully very little after in the end and the viewers of this film receive the same,very little.Frankie Lymon was not perfect,he was no saint.But this film disgraces him ,just like Bird did to Charlie Parker.In the end of the film we see the real Lymon singing "Goody-Goody" on a TV show.It is the only glimpse of the real Lymon in the movie.But after this film Frankie Lymon shall be looked at in one way and one way only,as a tragic disgrace.

The most interesting thing about the movie was the insider's look at a tortured artist after his popularity is gone. Frankie Lymon was Michael Jackson (of the Jackson 5 vintage) before Michael Jackson. The film never really brought out the fact that Frankie was 13 when he hit it big with the Teenagers (probably because the director didn't think Larenz Tate could pull it off). 3 wives fighting over his estate, mercurial rise and fall, and dead at 25, there is a good story here. The movie however falls a little short. I recommend with slight reservation.

Starring: Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox, Lela Rochon, Larenz Tate, and Little Richard Director: Gregory Nava 115 minutes Rated R (for language, sexuality and thematic elements)"Why Do Fools Fall In Love" is a mostly pleasant, uplifting experience in the wonderful world of film. It is a memorable musical with tunes to remember and an atmosphere to be charmed by. Not only is this a good movie, but one worth the price of a theater ticket (even though it is now available on home video and DVD, and no longer at the multiplex). I liked it---and I recommend it!The film's title, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," comes from the name of a song sang by the 1950's rock and roll group called "The Teenagers." A key member in that band is Frankie Lymon, who was 13 when he had his big record hit and 25 when he committed suicide. The record had success beyond imagination for his band. Propelling them into the world of greed, fame, and confusion as gradually their team began to break apart and turn on each other, causing Frankie to turn to a life of drugs, the army, and sex, with his wife, of course...but did I mention he had three of them."Why Do Fools Fall in Love" tells the inspiring story of how musical legend Frankie Lymon married three separate women without any of them having any knowledge of the other. The movie does not tell its story through the eyes of Frankie Lymon, however, but with the three women who all claim to be the wife of the late Frankie Lymon squabbling in court over the estate: Zola Taylor (Halle Berry) who is a glamorous singer with the Platters, Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Fox), a crook who supported him so much that she took he love to the extreme to pay the money in which needed to be used for his drug rehab, and Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon), a religious school teacher who was always there for him after he was part of the Army and sent to Georgia for training. They each argue that they deserve the four million that Frankie held in his estate.The premise is informational and well structured. We learn who the main characters are, what we are dealing with here, and a clear problem. Although the emotional view point of this film is constantly changing, making it hard to root for anyone in the cast, for a long period of time the emotional side of the story stands out of the picture, because most of the story is told through flashbacks of the Spouses, and when in trial, the emotional point of view varies from person to person, making any of the flashback scenes irrelevant. Yes, the subject madder of the film is a little ridiculous, but I think the point of view that the director chose to use here is quite effective, nonetheless. One of the witnesses, Little Richard, provides cute comic relief in the middle of the dramatic heat.Much of this film is full of style and glamour. The singing scenes with Frankie are so inspiring and energetic it is hard not to want to clap for him at the end of his performance. Speaking of performances, Larenz Tate acts creatively and hip as Frankie himself. Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox and Lela Rochon are all perfect in their roles as well. All of their characters discharge chemistry from one another.Around mid-point in "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" the hard truth sets in. Frankie Lymon becomes a has-been and discovers the world of crime and drugs. The movie losses its energy, becomes dark and goes down hill. Frankie gets in fights with druggies, his wife, his agents, and in an emotionally disturbing scene he even has the gull to throw his wife's pet dog out the window. This movie beings as a charm feast and turns into a profanely fueled, hard core slice of street life. This concept does not work, and in some ways, ruins the production. I think the filmmakers should have focused a little bit more on Frankie's successes than his failures, then we may have had a lot here.Even so, the last twenty minutes of the film we just great, and we leave the movie with a happy feeling inside knowing forever about the successes and disappointments of Frankie Lymon. Isn't that what this kind of movie exists for, informing us about somebody in an entertaining way. In that case, this is an imaginative gem of truth and lies.