Fool’s Paradise Blu-ray Review
“Fool’s Paradise” is an admirable satire that doesn’t deliver in the laugh department.
In this satirical comedy, Charlie Day performs triple duties here as writer, director, and star (in dual roles even). The story revolves around an unknown homeless man with a mental disability who bears a striking resemblance to a difficult method actor movie star named Tom Bingsley. When a producer spots him on the street, he drags the unknown man (who never speaks by the way) to set to act as a stand-in. After Tom dies in an accident, the unknown man (who becomes named Latte Pronto) finds himself being thrown into the Hollywood machine. Throughout the whirlwind journey, he gets married to a celebrity, interacts with other celebs, stars in a comic book movie, gets into scandals, loses money, becomes a hero, and somehow gets pulled into politics. Aiding him on this journey is a desperate struggling publicist (Larry) who may just be his only friend.
Movies about Hollywood are always a tough nut to crack and “Fool’s Paradise” is proof of that. While it’s an ambitious satire about the Hollywood film industry chewing you up and spitting you out, the comedy falls flat. It’s easy to see what Charlie Day was trying to accomplish here with some real “Being There” vibes tucked in for good measure, but the frantic one-note movie is all very surface level. Really, the movie is more bitter and depressing than funny which isn’t what you want for a comedy.
Day does deserve some credit for his ode to silent (and silent film) comedians. With Latte Pronto, Day really pays homage to the likes of Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin. Day, who is often known for very talkative characters, gets to show different sides of himself here as Latte is a very simple but good natured individual. On the other end of the spectrum, the Tom character is a complete loudmouth (although his screentime is very limited).
Day isn’t the only star here. In fact, this is a bonafide star-studded comedy featuring Kate Beckinsale, Ken Jeong, Jason Sudeikis, Adrien Brody, Edie Falco, Jason Bateman, Common, Ray Liotta, John Malkovich, Andrew Santino, Dean Norris and so on. Aside from Day, the two stand-outs here are Ray Liotta (in one of his final film roles and Ken Jeong who has a rather moving performance as Lenny.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 2.39:1 1080p. Grade: A-
Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. Grade: A-
The only extras are a “Fool’s Paradise” trailer and a Digital copy.
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