''Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' is a 1998 American

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film directed by

Gregory Nava Gregory James Nava (born April 10, 1949) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Personal life Nava was born in San Diego, of Mexican and Basque heritage. Nava graduated from St. Augustine High School (San Diego), St. Augustine ...

. Released by

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...

, the film is a biographical film of R&B/

Rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

singer

Frankie Lymon Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group Th ...

, lead singer of the pioneering rock and roll group

Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers The Teenagers are an American music group, most noted for being one of rock music's earliest successes, presented to international audiences by DJ Alan Freed. The group, which made its most popular recordings with young Frankie Lymon as lead ...

for one year. Moreover, the film highlights the three women in his life, each of whom claim to have married Lymon and lay claim to his estate. Written by Tina Andrews, ''Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' stars Halle Berry,

Vivica A. Fox Vivica Anjanetta Fox (born July 30, 1964) is an American actress, producer, and television host. Fox began her career on ''Soul Train'' (19821983). She eventually continued her career with roles on the daytime television soap operas ''Days of O ...

Lela Rochon Lela Rochon Staples (born April 17, 1964) is an American actress, best known for her starring role as Robin Stokes in the 1995 romantic drama film ''Waiting to Exhale''. She also had notable roles in the films ''Harlem Nights'' (1989), ''Boomerang ...

, and

Larenz Tate Larenz Tate (born September 8, 1975) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his roles as O-Dog in ''Menace II Society'' and as Councilman Rashad Tate in ''Power''. Tate's other films and television series include the fil ...

, who portrays Lymon. Little Richard also appears in the film as himself. One of the singles from the soundtrack, "

I Want You Back "I Want You Back" is the first national single by the Jackson 5. It was released by Motown on October 6, 1969, and became the first number-one hit for the band on January 31, 1970. It was performed on the band's first television appearances, on ...

" by

Melanie Brown Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Melanie B or Mel B, is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sc ...

featuring Missy Elliott, peaked at number one in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Plot

Lymon was 13 years old when the teenage group

erupted from radios and jukeboxes with their 1956 hit " Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" and appeared in the movie ''Rock, Rock, Rock'' (1956). After ''Mr. Rock and Roll'' (1957), Lymon started a solo singing career, but it all fell apart. Lymon's career was over by the time he was 18 years old, and he died of a heroin overdose seven years later. Jumping from the 1950s to the 1960s, the film traces the rise and fall of Lymon (

) in a series of flashbacks as courtroom claims on Lymon's royalties are outlined by three women:

Zola Taylor Zoletta Lynn Taylor (March 17, 1938 – April 30, 2007) was an American singer. She was the original female member of The Platters from 1954 to 1962, when the group produced most of their popular singles. Litigation Zola Taylor was a member of ...

( Halle Berry) of the R&B group

The Platters The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The ac ...

; Elizabeth Waters (

), a petty thief from Philadelphia; and schoolteacher Emira Eagle (

). Ending credits show the real Frankie Lymon singing his song "Goody Goody". Little Richard also makes a courtroom appearance, while

Miguel A. Nunez Jr. --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael (given name), Michael. It may refer to: Places *Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands ...

portrays Little Richard in scenes set in the 1950s. The film ends with Emira winning Frankie's estate.

Cast

* Halle Berry as

as Elizabeth "Mickey" Waters *

as Emira Eagle *

Paul Mazursky Irwin Lawrence "Paul" Mazursky (April 25, 1930 – June 30, 2014) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. Known for his dramatic comedies that often dealt with modern social issues, he was nominated for five Academy Awards: three t ...

Morris Levy Morris Levy (born Moishe Levy; August 27, 1927 – May 21, 1990) was an American entrepreneur in the fields of jazz clubs, music publishing, and the independent record industry. Levy was cofounder and owner of Roulette Records, founding partner ...

Pamela Reed Pamela Reed (born April 2, 1949) is an American actress. She is known for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic police partner in the 1990 movie ''Kindergarten Cop'' and as the matriarch Gail Green in ''Jericho''. She appeared as Marlene ...

as Judge Lambrey *

Alexis Cruz Alexis Cruz (born September 29, 1974) is an American actor, known for his performances as Rafael in '' Touched by an Angel'' and as Skaara in ''Stargate'' and ''Stargate SG-1''. Biography Cruz was born in The Bronx of Puerto Rican descent. His m ...

Herman Santiago Herman Santiago (born February 18, 1941) is a Puerto Rican rock and roll pioneer and songwriter who was previously a member of the vocal group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. He (disputedly) co-wrote the group's iconic hit " Why Do Fools Fall ...

Jon Huertas Jonathan William Scott Hofstedt (born October 23, 1969) is an American actor. Known professionally as Jon Huertas, he is best known for his role as witch hunter Brad Alcerro in ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'', Sergeant Antonio 'Poke' Espera in HB ...

Joe Negroni Joe Negroni (September 9, 1940 – September 5, 1978) was an American singer of Puerto Rican descent. He was a rock and roll pioneer and founding member of the rock and roll group Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Early years Negroni's family ...

* David Barry Gray as Peter Markowitz *

as Young Little Richard *

Clifton Powell Clifton Powell (born March 16, 1956) is an American actor who primarily plays supporting roles in films, such as in ''Ray'' (2004), for which he received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture nomination. Care ...

as Lawrence Roberts *

Lane Smith Walter Lane Smith III (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was an American actor. His well-known roles included newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', Walter Warner in '' Son in Law'', co ...

as Ezra Grahme *

Ben Vereen Benjamin Augustus Vereen (born October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer and singer. Vereen gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', for which he received a T ...

as Richard Barrett *

Paula Jai Parker Paula Jai Parker is an American actress. She is best known for her supporting roles in the films ''Friday'' (1995), '' Sprung'' (1997), '' Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' (1998), ''Phone Booth'' (2002), '' Hustle & Flow'' (2005), and '' Idlewild'' (20 ...

as Paula King *

Marcello Thedford Marcello Thedford is an American film actor, television actor and power lifter known for his roles as Kelvin "Buffalo" James on the ESPN dramatic series ''Playmakers'', Semi in '' Employee of the Month'', and in eight episodes of '' ER'' as Leon, ...

as Drug Dealer * Norris Young as Jimmy * Little Richard as Himself * Aries Spears as Redd Foxx * J. August Richards as Sherman * Shirley Caesar as minister/singer at funeral

Background

The screenplay of the film, written by actress-turned-screenwriter Tina Andrews, took fifteen years to be produced. Director Gregory Nava used most of the technical staff from his prior film ''

Selena Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...

.''

Filming locations

Filming locations include:

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

;

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

; and Starke, Florida.

Distribution

The film was first presented at th
Urbanworld Film Festival
New York on August 8, 1998. The film opened in wide release on August 28, 1998 (1,369 theaters) and sales the opening weekend were $3,946,382. ''Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' ran for 8 weeks domestically (56 days) and eventually grossed $12,506,676 in the United States. At its widest release the film was shown in 1,377 screens.

Reception

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 53% based on 57 reviews, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 5.91/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "This is a fun comedy with delightful musical numbers."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

, film critic for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', was disappointed in the screenplay and ultimately Nava's direction of the film, and wrote, "There are several angles this material might have been approached from, and director Gregory Nava tries several without hitting on one that works. By the end of the film, we're not even left with anyone to root for; we realize with a little astonishment, waiting for the court verdict, that we don't care who wins." Yet, film critic Peter Stack liked the film and believes director Nava smartly juggles a lot of elements in the picture. He wrote, "''Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' is a fresh, enlightening example of how to take a tragic American show-business story and make it funny, warm and terrifically entertaining... tbrims with joyful spirit and raucous comedy... nd the filmdeftly juggles a surprising number of elements, but they all work."

Accolades

Wins *

ALMA Award The American Latino Media Arts Award or ALMA Award, formerly known as Latin Oscars Award, is an award highlighting the best Hispanic and Latino Americans, American Latino contributions to music, television, and film. The awards promote fair and ...

: Outstanding Latino Director of a Feature Film, Gregory Nava, 1999. * American Black Film Festival: Black Film Award; Best Actor, Larenz Tate, 1999. Nominations * ALMA Awards: Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film in a Crossover Role, Miguel A. Núñez Jr.; Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Feature Film, Alexis Cruz, 1999. * American Black Film Festival: Black Film Award; Best Screenplay, Tina Andrews; Best Soundtrack, 1999.

Soundtrack

Two soundtrack albums were released for ''Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' by

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. ''Why Do Fools Fall in Love: Original Versions from the Movie'', released on September 8, 1998 by

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

, contained fourteen songs, including five of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' original recordings. Also included are original hits by Little Richard,

The Shirelles The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McFadd ...

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

and others. ''Why Do Fools Fall in Love: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture'' was released on the same day as ''Original Versions from the Movie'', but on Warner's

East West Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England. History Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with t ...

label in conjunction with Elektra Records and The Goldmind Inc. Save for one vintage Little Richard song, it features new hip-hop and

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...

recordings practically unrelated to the actual film (one track,

Gina Thompson Gina Thompson (born Lugenia Thompson in Vineland, New Jersey, on November 10, 1976) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer. Born to Edward L. Thompson, Sr. and Eugenia Thompson, Gina Thompson began singing at an early age and was signed to ...

's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", interpolates the Teenagers' hit and is featured over the film's end credits). Executive produced by Missy Elliott and primarily produced by her and

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

, this soundtrack album features songs by artists such as Elliott,

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single ...

, Destiny's Child,

Coko Cheryl Elizabeth Gamble (formerly Clemons; born June 13, 1970), better known by her stage name Coko, is an American singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer of the R&B vocal trio Sisters With Voices (SWV). Aside from her R&B career, Gamble ...

SWV SWV (Sisters with Voices) is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City whose members are Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Tamara (Taj) Johnson, and Leanne (Lelee) Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B g ...

and, making her solo debut, Spice Girls member Melanie B. It peaked at 55 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and 15 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

and spawned the singles "

" by

featuring Missy Elliott (which peaked at number-one on the

), En Vogue's " No Fool No More" (which peaked at 57 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100), and Destiny's Child's "

Get on the Bus ''Get on the Bus'' is a 1996 American drama film about a group of African-American men who are taking a cross-country bus trip in order to participate in the Million Man March. The film was directed by Spike Lee and premiered on the first anniver ...

". Singer Lil' Mo also made her debut with the single and music video for " Five Minutes". Former Bad Boy recording artist

Mase Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his mononym Mase (formerly Murda Mase and stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper and minister. In the late 1990s, he recorded on the Bad Boy Records label alongside its founder Sean ...

was slated to record with Missy Elliott and

for the soundtrack, but his contribution never made the final cut.

Track listing

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Gregory Nava 1998 films 1998 romantic drama films 1990s legal films African-American drama films American biographical drama films American legal drama films American rock music films American romantic drama films American romantic musical films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Gregory Nava Films scored by Stephen James Taylor Films set in 1956 Films set in the 1960s Films set in the 1980s Films shot in Jacksonville, Florida Musical films based on actual events Romantic period films Warner Bros. films Rhino Films films 1990s American films