Fools Rush In

1997, US, directed by Andy Tennant

For every romantic comedy that works, there's are three like this, where it all falls apart: there's no chemistry between the leads, the supporting characters are no fun, and worst of all, it goes on far too long. While Matthew Perry's shtick was enjoyable on Friends, here he's unconvincing as an allegedly hard-charging nightclub designer, while Salma Hayek's performance is awkward; her line delivery is especially distracting, although the clanging script hardly helps (the writers really have a tin ear for the nuances of dialogue at times). The portrait of the intersection of a warm Mexican family and a chilly WASP clan has some potential as it overcomes the initial clichés, but ultimately the film can't do much with the fact that we just don't care about the central pair.