'Fool's Paradise' A Review

Fool's Paradise is a satirical dramedy about a mute simpleton(Charlie Day also writing/directing) who looks identical to a famous actor who dies while the man called Latte Pronto(after someone says that near him) is working as his stand in. Latte then gets taken in, chewed up, and spit out of the Hollywood machine.

Day hamstrings himself by making the character mute and then not really making any physical choices at all. It's a bizarre choice in a movie that is in part homage to silent era stars like Keaton and Chaplin(the other clear inspiration is Being There) there is really no physical set piece gags or sequences at all. There is ultimately no purpose for the character not to speak or to have the mental acuity of a child. So Day, in effect, takes him out of his own movie. The cast is stacked with talent but other than Ken Jeong no one has much screentime(Adrian Brody, Malkovich, and Kate Beckinsale are all great). Jeong absolutely goes for it but the result could not be a worse clash in tone. He plays like it a straight up melodrama and it doesn't fit at all with the other failed throughlines of commentary or comedy. Quite frankly its a total mess.

The production design is limited and it becomes clear Day had little time and less money to make his movie. We see multiple locations multiple times in a way that it is clear the scenes were shot on the same day and returning there has more to do with limited location availability rather than actual narrative. All in all the impression is of shoddy incoherence.

A clear passion project for the talented Day, perhaps compelling for how profoundly wide it misses the mark.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't See It.