‘Kissing A Fool’ Worth Only A Kiss Goodbye

At times, “Kissing a Fool” gives the impression that it wants to be this season’s “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” except for this: Whatever “Wedding” got right, “Kissing” gets wrong; whatever “Wedding” got wrong, “Kissing” gets even more wrong.

Like “Wedding,” which failed to convince us that Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney were best friends, “Fool” fails to convince us that key characters Max and Jay are best friends. And like “Wedding,” “Fool” centers a love triangle on someone who doesn’t seem interesting enough to attract one person, much less two.

But unlike “Wedding,” which at least had some sense of fun, “Fool” is really obnoxious.

It’s poorly directed, annoyingly structured, sophomorically written and blandly acted by its miscast stars. And it doesn’t have Rupert Everett around to make up for the bad parts.

In “Fool,” mopey romantic Jay (Jason Lee) sets womanizing sportscaster Max (“Friends”’ David Schwimmer) up with book editor Sam (Mili Avital), for no other reason than to kick-start the plot. Apparently, women find Max’s basset-hound eyes, whiny voice and propensity for saying “What up?” irresistible, so he doesn’t seem to need Jay’s help. And, aside from not having much of a personality, Sam doesn’t seem to need much romantic assistance, either.

But whaddaya know, Max and Sam fall in love almost immediately, and quickly become engaged. Then, in the spirit of true romance and making the movie more than a half-hour long, Max decides that he needs to test her fidelity, so he encourages Jay to try to seduce her, to see if she’ll stay faithful.

You can see Schwimmer is trying to stretch with Max, who’s the first unabashed jerk he has played. But Schwimmer’s all wrong for the role, and because he’s co-executive producer, he has to take some of the blame for his miscasting. He just doesn’t work as an aggressively misogynistic slimebag; it may not be fair, but he’s a prisoner to that face and that voice. Not only is he all bark and no bite, he makes you feel like giving a donation to the Humane Society on his behalf.

“Fool” would have worked better if Lee, who really got under people’s skins as a misogynistic slimebag of his own in 1997’s “Chasing Amy,” had switched roles with Schwimmer. As Jay, Lee has little to do but mope (a Schwimmer specialty). Jay is a classic nice guy, but either Lee or director Doug Ellin has confused “nice” with “bland,” and there’s little energy to Lee’s performance. As Sam, Avital is stuck with an underwritten role - the only reason we know she’s smart and funny is that Max and Jay keep telling us so, and the only reason we know she’s a book editor is that every now and then she wears glasses.

“Fool” is told in flashback by Bonnie Hunt, who plays a disenchanted wedding guest in much the same way she played Renee Zellweger’s disenchanted sister in “Jerry Maguire.” Every time the movie threatens to work, we revisit Hunt regaling two other wedding guests with the Max-Jay-Sam story.

Hunt’s a talented comedian, but here she just seems bored.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “Kissing a Fool” Location: North Division, Spokane Valley Mall, Showboat Credits: Directed by Doug Ellin, starring David Schwimmer, Jason Lee, Mili Avital, Bonnie Hunt Running time: 1:33 Rating: R