Kissing a Fool

This is a darker, more self-indulgent variation of My Best Friend's Wedding that finds two friends pursuing the same woman. Max (David Schwimmer of Friends) and Jay (Jason Lee) have known each other since childhood and remain close even though Max is a womanizing sportscaster while Jay is a sensitive writer still licking his wounds from a traumatic break-up. Being a good pal, Jay sets Max up with his editor, Sam (Mili Avital); and after only one date, romantic clichés like "love at first sight" and "opposites attract" are being batted about freely. The two get engaged, whereupon Jay realizes his love for Sam. Things really get complex when Max attempts to test Sam's fidelity by insisting Jay try to seduce her.

Schwimmer plays his two-dimensional egotist with the perfect degree of testosterone, and Avital is a sensual delight as the woman caught in the middle. But Lee, who was so hilarious in Chasing Amy, indulges in too many hyperbolic rants to be convincing as a sensitive romantic. Bonnie Hunt adds a juicy performance as Jay's dicey publisher; that and the lush, cinematic framing of Chicago helps keep this romantic comedy a notch above its formulaic roots. At the Harbour Mall, Holiday, Showcase, Tri-Boro, Westerly, and Woonsocket cinemas.

-- Tom Meek