A Masterpiece!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The most fascinating part of this movie is the brilliant scene in which Frankie performs the song "Baby Baby" on stage as recounted by Little Richard. This entire scene is done with one shot and NO cuts. It begins outside the theater as the camera follows the theater patrons inside. As we enter the theater the music of the Platters swells as they are in the final strains of "The Great Pretender." As the camera goes down the aisle it does a 360 pan of the audience and then goes on-stage and circles around the Platters as they finish their song, take a bow and exit stage right. Frankie kisses Zola Taylor and then gets slapped. He and the Teenagers then rush on stage and perform their number to thunderous applause. Everything just described happens on film without a single cut, everyone performing flawlessly, including the camera man. Absolutely brilliant work!

It was true in the '50s and still is today: it's no exaggeration to state that most hitmaking careers are over in 18 months. Teen idols fare the worst, and such was the fate of Frankie Lymon, who scored but three Top 20 hits between February 1956 and the summer of 1957: "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," "I Want You To Be My Girl" (both with The Teenagers) and "Goody Goody" (as a soloist). After that, the industry and music buyers considered him to be yesterday's former fresh face. And, like most young teens who become overnight sensations, Frankie's firework-long popularity came to cripple him later as a) people would not accept him as anything other than a 13-year-old and b) he was utterly unprepared to cope with real life once his flash of fame had ended. An insightful peek into Frankie Lymon's mercurial life would have made a great movie -- but this isn't it. Instead, we get only a superficial look at Lymon, as the movie focuses instead on the three women who claimed to be his wife. Lymon does not deserve to be shoved into the background of his own biopic, especially as his story is representative of the rise and fall of many flash-in-the-pan artists who find themselves revered by the public one minute and then dumped into history's ashcan the next -- often before they really reach the summit of their skills. (Believe me -- as the writer of "The History Of Rock 'n' Roll," I know this all too well.) The three women battling over his estate were more a footnote to his story than the real drama and far too much time is allocated to letting the three female leads each take a star turn. Yes, Zola Taylor was the best-known of the three, but she is portrayed following her run with The Platters as an in-the-money solo star headlining live shows with her giant hit "Only You." Are the producers kidding? Zola Taylor didn't even JOIN The Platters until AFTER "Only You" had become a million-seller! The Platters scored big as the most successful hitmaking singing group of the late '50s (1955-9), despite the fact that the "group" was really lead vocalist Tony Williams -- with the others as mere background singers. (What were The Doors, for example, without Jim Morrison?) Zola only sang lead on a couple of minor Platters chart items -- and after leaving the act, immediately sank into near total obscurity. The Platters' golden era ended in 1960 after Tony left on his ill-fated solo career. (I explored this in great detail while assembling a 60-track Platters career retrospective 3-CD box set.) None of The Platters really made much money at all -- as they were mere salaried employees of their manager, Buck Ram. Ram wrote much of their material, told them what to sing and how, produced their records, owned The Platters' name and (no surprise) kept nearly all of the loot himself. The portrayal of Morris Levy, who owned several labels including Gee (the recording home of Lymon and The Teenagers) was pretty accurate. Not all record labels screwed artists as thoroughly as Levy's did, but his methods were none too unusual for the time. In fact, they're not much different than what the industry does today!

Why Do Fools Fall in Love? (1998) was an interesting picture about the troubled life of Frankie Lymon. Three women claiming to be his wife are in court to fight over his meager estate. Gregory Nava (fresh off of SELENA) does a better job in capturing the lost soul that was Frankie Lymon. But he just scratches the surface of this very bizarre and complicated individual. Larenz Tate does one hell of a job in the role of Frankie. His wives (Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox, Lela Rochon) are very good in their roles. An entertaining film that I wished was more in depth. A good start but it needs to be fleshed out some more. Maybe Mr. Nava should have focused more on the group when they were younger and rising through the top of the charts. A younger actor would have been helpful as well (Frankie Lymon was a small dude). But the film wasn't all that bad, they even showed us a side of Mr. Lymon I never even knew existed. Not an offensive film, just a nice timer waster.Recommended.

I don't believe this movie didn't do better in the ratings. I thought it was clever and entertaining. Halle Berry is beautiful and Larenz Tate was engaging as Frankie Lymon. Again, Gregory Nava is a director to watch for. I didn't realize he also did Selena and that was a movie I also enjoyed. Nothing heavy or slick, no action, fires, explosions, just good story telling about characters and their relationships with one another.