Review of Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998) by Zachary H — 11 Aug 2011

Strong performances with a little comedy make this tragedy incredibly watchable. The film is strongest in the performances of its leading ladies. The man who plays Larenz Tate isn't horrible, but he was somewhat miscast for the star Frankie.

He shines immensely as the Frankie that the women knew later on. The singing on the part of Tate is dubbed and can feel a little unbelievable. However, the story itself is a very dramatic tale of loss and want.

I don't actually know how accurate the stories are because I am not a historian of Frankie Lymon, but it is very effective as a final product on-screen. The best of the three women is Vivica A. Fox as Elizabeth Waters.

She just has the attitude that I would expect from someone who lived the life she lived. Halle Berry is also very strong in the movie and actually has my favorite scene in the movie. My favorite scene is when she finds out that Frankie left her home to rot, and she returns home to realize that everything she worked for was gone.

It is an emotionally gripping scene made more real/effective by the choice of little audio and really good cinematography (the bit with the window reflections is amazing). It captures the immense sorrow that the character felt and translates it into something that the audience can feel.

The weakest of the three ladies is Lela Rochon, but that has more to do with the fact that her character is the least compelling. The others all had things that Frankie did to them, but Emira Eagle was the wife that he left as a widow (you really do get the feeling from her performance that Emira loved Frankie).

Another really good scene was the scene of Frankie's death. It is another that is really chilling and emotionally heavy. The film has some lighthearted comedy bits to take the viewer out of an emotional state (an effective move when the audience knows that the subject died early via an overdose).

This effectively makes the audience want to root for the character and hope that the ending is changed. Finally, the differences in emotion, time-period, location, etc. are all captured really well via the soundtrack and cinematography.

Some might say that the movie falls apart at the end. I disagree. This movie shows a life falling apart after he is no longer a star, shows him get slightly back up on his feet, shows him truly on his feet in a good marriage and home (to Emira), and then has the world fall apart all over again after told by his former manager that he will never be a star again.

It is effective at showing that Frankie needed to be a star and needed the stage. Thus, we feel the movie falls apart as his life does and then we understand the reasoning for ending that life. All in all, this movie is immensely effective in every way and remains to be one of my favorite movies.

It is highly recommended for anyone, but especially fans of the "doomed star" movies.