In Which Selma,Matthew and The Radio Times Film Guide 2013 Have Made Me The Film Whisperer Of The Family

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The story so far. Have watched Fools Rush In starring Matthew Perry and Selma Hayak as part of my little mad exercise to watch as I come home late from work to watch a film randomly selected to cross off on the Radio Times Film Guide 2013 as I'm eating a microwave meal.

I like it (amongst only three of the fourteen movies I've seen I've liked). I write about it on this blog. There we are then.

But up pops Valentine's day. I'm working on that day but I know what to buy the wife. Fools Rush In. A romcom I liked. Not Richard Curtis Love Actually nothing. There we are sorted.

Now read on....

For today (Monday) was the day that the wife actually saw the movie with me.

The omens were not good. Wife had cooked a turkey curry which was fine but left us all bloated. Afterwards she suddenly acquired a heavy cold from I don't know who (not me folks).

But you know what? She liked it.

And there is something else to say as well. It actually improved on second viewing. Something I really did not expect.

At the end of the film I raised my arms as if in triumph "I am the Film Whisperer of this family!" I announced. For the last time I had to pick a film to watch was at Christmas. We had bought Netflix for the month and that particular day my wife, daughter, mother and me were arguing over what film to watch. The main blockage to a simple choice was the obviously swarthy rugged macho features of yours truly...…..especially when I take my glasses off to clean them.

Well I picked the Mel Brooks movie Robin Hood Men In Tights. A great film which if when we watched it is a guide gave people of all ages a good time.

So there is a track record now. Wife asked how I picked Fools Rush In. I could have said that in trying to randomly watch movies pre 2013 to cross off a film guide this was the next movie in the next channel on the TV from the last one I watched.

Instead I said I just was monitoring suitable films for Valentine's Day.....ho hum.

Until the next time.

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.