Review: Why Do Fools Fall in Love
In 1986, three women claimed to be the widow of singer Frankie Lymon. A trial ensued -- the real Mrs. Frankie Lymon would be entitled to the royalties from his songs. The new film, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, episodically chronicles Frankie's relationships with three disparate women.
In 1955, fifteen-year old Frankie Lymon (Larenz Tate) records "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" with his group, The Teenagers. The song becomes a smash and the band is a hit. While on tour with Ed Sullivan's Rock ‘N Roll Circus, he meets Zola Taylor (Halle Berry), a pretty singer with The Platters. They're soon an item. "Even Ray Charles could see they were like white on rice," Little Richard testifies. The flamboyant singer plays himself during the trial scenes and, though seemingly inimitable, is done full justice by Miguel A. Nunez, Jr., who portrays the teenaged Little Richard. This period in the film is by far the most interesting and could be a film in and of itself. The juxtaposition of their status on stage, where there is no race, and the segregated reality hits home during a rest stop. "Be incoNegro!" Little Richard wails. Frankie himself inadvertently shocks America by dancing with a white girl on live television; when he performs his television comeback years later, he's backed by an all-white chorus line of go-go dancers.
In 1961, welfare mom and petty thief Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Fox) is rescued by Frankie from being arrested for shoplifting. She's taken by this brash youth and agrees to go to his show, not truly knowing who he is. When she sees him onstage, she's giddy with happiness and falls further in love. Despite the track marks that are the signs of his addiction, they move in together. They marry in 1964. Though still a name, Frankie's star is on the decline and his addiction is spiraling out of control. The film's most harrowing moment has Frankie held at knifepoint by dealers he owes money to. When they threaten to slash his throat, Elizabeth is forced to give over their rent money.
Frustrated with his career, Frankie abandons Elizabeth and meets up with Zola in Los Angeles in 1965, the time of California dreaming. She helps him try to resuscitate his career; they rekindle their romance and are soon married. When Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon) encounters Frankie in 1967, she knew him as a gentlemanly serviceman who had once been a national singing sensation. Moved by his kindness and caring, she marries him in a big church wedding in Georgia. Three women. One husband. Four million dollars in royalties up for grabs. Who is the real Mrs. Frankie Lymon?
Director Gregory Nava (Selena) paints a vivid portrait of the times, taking us from bobbysoxers to mod squads. The film brims with musical numbers which jump, jive and wail. Screenwriter Tina Andrews deftly combines the dramatic, comedic and romantic elements but the script has its disjointed moments; the transitions from one relationship to the other is at times confusing. Nava lets his female trio loose and gets impassioned performances. The lovely Rochon, who's spent her post-Waiting to Exhale years playing a string of unworthy parts, gets a chance to shine once again. She may have the least showy role but portraying Emira has its rewards: the schoolteacher's retiring demeanor masks a will of steel. It's been about three years since Halle Berry gave an actual performance onscreen (in Losing Isaiah); while she resorts to her pretty baby blandness during Zola's relationship with Frankie, she's a woman unbound during the trial scenes. (One quibble: while Zola was an attractive woman, her glamour was more drip dry than drop dead.)
The film's high points occur during the catty exchanges between the classy Zola and the streetwise Elizabeth. Fox has the most fully realized character and she rips into the role with adrenalized glee. Strutting and oomphing, she's fierce during the turbulent times with Frankie yet she delineates the degradation Elizabeth experiences at his hands with a touching vulnerability.
The film's Achilles heel is Frankie himself. It's the actor and the character that are lacking. Tate does the best he can but he's not magnetic enough to overcome the character's opacity. Why would this bevy of dynamic women fall for him, trust him, and forgive him all his faults even after all his sins and all these years? Each woman romanced a different Frankie and there's not enough shadings in the script or Tate's performance to differentiate. As for the tragedy of his young life (he died at 26 from a heroin overdose), it's more concept than concrete. As he sits in a packed theater watching Zola perform, he's confronted with the memories of his successes and romances. Not even the relative peace of Emira's love can cure him. The scene doesn't even manage to hit the power of Lana Turner's spotlighted moment in Ziegfeld Girl; once a heralded Ziegfeld Girl, she's now a sickly, impoverished alcoholic. As she descends down the staircase after watching the latest line of Ziegfeld Girls, she imagines herself in her glory days and never more was a fallen star so glamorously or tragically depicted.
Why Do Fools Fall in Love
Directed by: Gregory Nava
Written by: Tina Andrews
Starring: Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox, Lela Rochon, Larenz Tate, Paul Mazursky, Pamela Reed, Clifton Powell, Ben Vereen, Miguel A. Nunez, Jr., Little Richard
