Why Do Fools Fall in Love

R

Released Aug 8, 1998

1 hr. 55 min.

Biography

List

52%

58 Reviews

Tomatometer

76%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1956, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers landed a doo-wop hit with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" Fame turned to tragedy as lead singer Lymon (Larenz Tate) descended into substance abuse that eventually claimed his life at age 25. But Lymon didn't just leave his fans bereft -- he also left behind three women, and each believes she's owed his song royalties: Platters singer Zola Taylor (Halle Berry), prostitute Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Fox) and schoolteacher Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon).

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Critics Consensus

This is a fun comedy with delightful musical numbers.

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RONALD J

Good performances, great music, with some really good comedic moments, this film manages to tell what is ultimately a sad story in an engaging way

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/17/23

Full Review

deke p

Shd be 5 stars for the music, 1 star for the jerk he turned out to be. So sorry. I remember & loved it well in '56. Seems most if not all of this genre of the real lives of pop music stars shine the light of truth on how fame and fortune took them to the depths & destroyed them. It would be disillusioning.. it it wasn't so normal and expected.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Loved it. Real portrayal of each character brought to life. Best performances by Lorenz, Vivica, Halle, and Lela. They each did an awesome job! Music was great too....

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The story was good, but the majority of the movie was bad. It was really upsetting that they didn't use the story that was originally written for him. I did not like the fact that they decided to make the whole movie based around his three wives, no one cares about a court hearing with his three wives, we want to know if his life as an artist just like every other celebrity made movie. I felt like part of it was truthful and part of it was not. The beginning was not very good and hardly touched at all on how he started etc. The end got better, when it got into the drug part that is when it started to get good and did like how they pointed out that he didnt have a party before he overdosed!! However the worst thing of all about the movie is the Actor Looks nothing Like Him, Doesnt Act like him, Sounds like Him, Look Like him, Talk Like Him, That is what ruined it for me is they didnt even try to find someone who actually could play frankie lymon, they just put a popular african american actor to play his part. Every celebrity movie I have ever seen always tries to atleast get the main character as accurate as possible and the guy in the court looked more like him they the guy who played frankie. It hurts me because there will never be another movie about him again, they had to ruin the first one. I trully feel that way. I wish the original story wrote about him was used and that they actually cared to find someone who could actually play Frankie Lymon. Frankie Lymon is My Absolute Favorite artist of all time, and I know all of his songs, Nothing more serious to me then that. I find it very sad. Frankie Lymon was unique and I was they just captured his character in the movie , and had it look some what like him. The old new york accent he had, the way he looked, and so much else. I trully hope someone will make a new one. Yet the chances of that are likely none.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

07/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I thought it was pretty good, engrossing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A charming dark and funny film which benefits greatly by amazing performances and musical numbers.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

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Gregory Nava

Director

Halle Berry

Zola Taylor

Vivica A. Fox

Elizabeth 'Mickey' Waters

Lela Rochon

Emira Eagle

Larenz Tate

Frankie Lymon

Paul Mazursky

Morris Levy

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Keith Phipps

AV Club

Why Do Fools Fall In Love never really conveys the essence of its subject.

May 23, 2019

Full Review

Paul Tatara

CNN.com

"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is a misfire in several ways, but the key problem is that the writers have a clunky, concrete Christmas tree, not something thematic that can be used to devise scenes of various shades and colors.

May 23, 2019

Full Review

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Too ill defined to emerge from the pack of box office also-rans.

Jun 18, 2008

Full Review

Barbara Shulgasser

Common Sense Media

Drug use brings down teen idol; sex, violence, cursing.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 27, 2019

Full Review

Serena Donadoni

Metro Times (Detroit, MI)

Why Do Fools Fall in Love, in its own glossy, entertaining way, is a deeper examination of how an individual can use numerous masks to conceal himself, even from the ones he loves.

May 23, 2019

Full Review

Dave McCoy

Film Threat

This biopic is soulless, underwritten, over-acted and, worse, just plain dull.

Rated: 0.5/5

Dec 6, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

In 1956, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers landed a doo-wop hit with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" Fame turned to tragedy as lead singer Lymon (Larenz Tate) descended into substance abuse that eventually claimed his life at age 25. But Lymon didn't just leave his fans bereft -- he also left behind three women, and each believes she's owed his song royalties: Platters singer Zola Taylor (Halle Berry), prostitute Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Fox) and schoolteacher Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon).

Director: Gregory Nava
Executive Producer: Mark Allan, Harold Bronson, Gregory Nava
Screenwriter: Tina Andrews
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Warner Brothers, Rhino Films
Rating: R
Genre: Biography
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 8, 1998, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $12.5M
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1), 35mm

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