The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 12: Fools Rush In (1997)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Imagine if you will you're Matthew Perry at the height of you fame thanks to Friends.

You get a call from your agent. A Hollywood producer offers you a lot of money to be the top billing in a motion picture. You play a character not that different from Chandler Bing AND Selma Hayek is going to be your leading lady.

Bet that decision didn't take long.

Fools Rush In is that movie. A tale of two people who have a one night stand. Selma discovers that she's pregnant and once he learns this Matthew Perry decides to propose marriage which she accepts. Two people then from different nations (she's Mexican though living in the US) planning after a one stand for a baby. A plot which predates Sharon Horgan's Catastrophe.

So in essence it's a romantic comedy. And it's not a spoiler to say that the plot basically goes through the standard Romcom hoops. It doesn't really matter though. You allow it to wash over you and it's a pleasant way to pass the time. Even though you wonder whether in real life Selma Hayek would chose Perry. After all I suspect there would be plenty of American men (and let's not be homophobic here women as well) who would be happy to become Mexican citizens if it meant she was going to be their partner.

Still of the twelve films I've chatted about in this series this is only the third I've truly liked. A quiet unassuming comedy....well there we go....enough said.

Except....

Sometimes your perception of a book, film or TV changes thanks to subsequent events. Let's look at this movie again but from a different angle. A Mexican and an American come together to form a relationship. He has to get used to some aspects of Mexican culture (the large family and an interesting taste in home décor gets gentle ribbing here) but American life is not seen as perfection either.

Sure there are problems with the relationship. But no one accuses anyone else of being drug dealers or rapists or suggests building a wall between them. Sure this is Hollywood but they work their issues out like proper adults.

So perhaps this amiable little comedy can, in the age of Trump, be seen as entertainment for the resistance against him?

Let's hope so.

Until the next time.