By CAROL DEEGAN

In “Kissing A Fool,” the new film directed by Doug Ellin, Jason Lee portraysan aspiring writer who’s trying to get over a failed relationship.

Lee, who appeared in the highly acclaimed Kevin Smith film, “Chasing Amy,”sees his “Fool”-ish character as a guy who spends too much time missing hisex-girlfriend. Way too much time.

“I’ve had a heartbreak like that before, sure,” said Lee, 27, in a telephoneinterview from his home in Los Angeles. “But I didn’t dwell on it for as longas he does and eventually make it into a book. But there’s similarities there,for sure.”

Filmed in Chicago, “Kissing A Fool” begins and ends with a wedding scene.But who’s getting married? Jay, played by Lee, or his best friend, Max? Bothfind themselves attracted to Jay’s book editor, Sam, played by Mili Avital.

The film is a light romantic comedy.

“There’s a lot of very interesting circumstances in the movie and there’sbelievable circumstances, and the characters are identifiable and relatable towhat people go through, so there’s humor along the way,” Lee said. “But atthe end, things sort of resolve themselves just like they do in life, I guess.So there’s some good stuff for everyone.”

Max is portrayed by David Schwimmer, one of NBC’s “Friends”. Although Max isengaged to Sam, he finds himself wondering if she is really “the one.” So heasks Jay to put Sam’s faithfulness to the test. (Talk about romanticentanglements!)

So, who’s the fool in “Kissing A Fool”?

“At some point, I guess, all three of them,” Lee said. “And they sort ofhave to go through their own things to get to a good place, which is reallywhat happens in life anyway.”

What drew Lee to the film?

“The script, first of all, and then also the experience of working with anentirely new group of people, which was to me a challenge because I had donetwo feature films with Kevin Smith. And this was to be my first feature filmoutside of working with Kevin, and I sort of had to take everything I hadlearned working with him and apply it to a whole new situation,” he said.

“Everybody kept it light, it wasn’t a very heavy, heavy thing, there was alot of goofing off, and everyone pretty much shared the same sense of humor,which is good, so we all got along well,” Lee said.

The cast also includes “Jerry Maguire’s” Bonnie Hunt and Vanessa Angel asNatasha, the woman Jay can’t seem to forget.

Lee said he enjoyed working with Schwimmer. “It was definitely easy becausehe’s a good actor and takes it very seriously, and he played this charactervery well. But he definitely got mobbed everywhere we went.”

Would Lee like to be someone who gets mobbed everywhere he goes?

“Fortunately, the recognition I’ve gotten has been for the work I did in’Chasing Amy,’ and people always compliment the movie and how much they likedit, and it’s a very kind of sincere recognition, which is the best kind ofrecognition, I think.”

His upcoming projects include a new Kevin Smith film, “Dogma,” set to startfilming in April, which will also star Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

“Can’t make a Kevin Smith film without me, I’d like to hope,” said Lee witha laugh.