Rising Star: Jason Lee

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.

02/25 Marvel Mirth: Kevin Smith, Quesada and Palmiotti 9:00pm ET (Bowl)

CHASING AMY, MALL RATS and CLERKS writer/director KEVIN SMITH and comic creators JOE QUESADA & JIMMY PALMIOTTI chat LIVE about their upcoming work for MARVEL COMICS!

Be here for a night of MARVEL MIRTH featuring the freshest talent in the MARVEL UNIVERSE!

MARVEL has entered into an exclusive new publishing agreement with comic industry stars JOE QUESADA and JIMMY PALMIOTTI! They’ll be producing four MARVEL titles: DAREDEVIL, BLACK PANTHER, INHUMANS and THE PUNISHER and they’re here to talk to YOU about it! And guess who else will be here… filmmaker KEVIN SMITH! Under the new agreement, Kevin’s scribing the first six issues of the legendary Man Without Fear, the blind-attorney turned super hero — DAREDEVIL!

This is one event NO comic fan will want to miss! BE HERE!

‘Nuff said!

Event Keyword: “Marvel”

Date: February 25

Time: 9:00pm ET

(C) 1998 America Online, Inc.

So for months people have asked “Where are the rest of the images from the Mallrats credit opening?” The only one’s I could get my hands on were doubles that were at the office plus ones that I could X-acto knife from a Mallrats books (sorry for those disgusted that I would deface such a great book). The rest were either already mounted and at the Stash or unobtainable (Brodieman).

Anyhow, I finally got off my ass and scanned the missing images from the cardset. They came out much better than I thought they would. Enjoy and feel free to use them, print them, whatever. Just keep our site in mind and in your links.

http://www.viewaskew.com/mallrats/comictoast.html

‘Kissing A Fool’ Covers Old Ground

February 23, 1998 8:58 AM EST

Kissing a Fool (Romantic comedy, color, R, 1:33)

By Todd McCarthy, Daily Variety Chief Film Critic

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) – A slick, low-laugh-quotient romantic comedy, “Kissing A Fool” offers too few new wrinkles on the tired subject of yuppie commitment anxiety to make it worth the visit.

Sporting a small, contrived plot and alternative-type cast more befitting a low-budget indie than a major studio production, pic looks to strike few sparks theatrically but might settle in as a reasonable video title.

Designed to contrast the dilemma of a compulsive womanizer who doesn’t know if he can settle down with just one partner with the angst of an incurable romantic who can’t get over a love-of-his-life heartbreak, script winds up hinging upon a hokey third act device that forces a very unnatural confrontation and consequent confessions. Result feels artificially induced, forced rather than heartfelt, rendering the film even more negligible than it already was.

Story’s framing device proves more lively than much of the tale itself, thanks largely to sassy style of Bonnie Hunt, playing a wealthy Chicago publisher who is hosting a wedding on her splendid suburban estate and snappily relates how the bride and groom got to this happy day. Max (David Schwimmer) and Jay (Jason Lee) have been best friends since childhood, but the former has now become a popular local sports broadcaster with a quick-spinning revolving door for ladies, while the latter, a writer with his first novel on the way, is in mourning over the departure of great love Natasha (Vanessa Angel).

Unable to imagine that he’ll ever want another woman, earnest Jay sets Max up with his attractive book editor Samantha (Mili Avital), and while they seem ill-matched in terms of interests, the fireworks are so great that they are engaged within two weeks. Max’s eye is still roving, however, and when he realizes that marriage is supposed to mean that Sam will be the last woman he’ll ever sleep with, he freaks and proposes a ridiculous test to his buddy: Jay will hit on Sam, and if she shows no signs of being tempted to stray, then Max will be confident enough in her loyalty and fidelity that he’ll go ahead with the marriage.

To his credit, Jay rejects this plan, but the pressures of revising the book thrust him and Sam together nearly full time. When Max takes an overnight trip, during which his own inability to resist temptation is confirmed, the literary twosome must confront their own true feelings, which Max forces into the open the following night.

Despite the concise running time, script by James Frey and director Doug Ellin takes quite awhile running up to the inevitable pairing; there are no particular barriers, in the classic romantic comedy sense, standing in the way of the destined love match, only the blindness or fear of the participants to recognize it as such. As a result, film lacks the customary, frustration-and-fun-producing twists and turns of the genre’s best exemplars, and seems far too simple and underdeveloped for a bigscreen feature.

As written, Max and Jay seem too aggressive with each other to be lifelong best friends. Schwimmer, still looking for his bigscreen breakthrough, has all his moves down as the egocentric, unreflective lady-killer and is entertaining up to a point as he rams his desires and point of view through in every situation. Lee, who scored last year in “Chasing Amy”, is sympathetic though rather hyperactively defensive through most of the action, while Israeli star Mili Avital registers pleasantly as the femme in the middle.

The diversion at least comes in a very attractive package, thanks to the very scenic Chicago locations, complementary production design by Charles Breen and lush lensing from Thomas Del Ruth.

Reuters/Variety

Ben Affleck Buys His Mom A Jeep

Copyright © 1998 Nando.net
Copyright © 1998 The Associated Press

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (February 24, 1998 02:24 a.m. EST) — Ben Affleck’s mother once warned him about the financial pitfalls of an acting career. So when he hit it big, he took the cash and bought her a new set of wheels.

“I trained him to feel the unequal distribution of wealth is very disturbing, so on the one hand I want to say he should give it all away, but on the other hand he bought me a car and I’m very happy,” mom Chris Affleck said in an interview in the Cambridge Chronicle.

The 25-year-old actor, who co-wrote and starred in the hit film “Good Will Hunting” with his childhood friend Matt Damon, has been nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay.

Acting, she thought, “was too hard to make a living,” Chris Affleck said she told her son.

He bought her a new dark green Jeep.

“Good Will Hunting,” which has also been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, is about a tough kid from South Boston who works as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also happens to be a math genius. Affleck plays his best friend.