Fool's Paradise is a Gold Mine

by Nate McKenzie

You've heard the phrase "He's a man of few words." Or the opposite about the man of many. One fella talks too much, other guy never says a thing. It's al legendary dynamic of great character duos like Jay and Silent Bob, Lt. Aldo Raine and Hugo Stiglitz, Letterman and Shaffer...

Now, Latte Pronto and Lenny the Publicist.

Latte Pronto doesn’t say much. In fact, he doesn’t speak at all. His publicist, however, knows all the words, uses them constantly, because there’s nothing louder than sadness, better to fill empty space with a vacuum of vapid conversation, right? Right?! Hahahaha “I want to be somebody!” If I just keep talking I’ll keep the questions at bay. Questions are dangerous. Questions reveal. Questions aren’t for the askee, they are for the asker. We ask questions to which we already know the answer, hoping, probing with selfish intent. Latte Pronto doesn’t answer questions, for lack of will or want or faculty, but that’s ok because he’s in Hollywood now, where questions are asked in the form of statements and answers are mere suggestions anyway. Please, Mr. Pronto, just follow me and I’ll show you to your official trailer.

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Fool’s Paradise is a parable of many lessons. Without saying a word, Latte Pronto shows us the story of a man who simply allows life to happen to him. But is that such a bad thing? Sure, bad things happen but… that is life, isn’t it? One day you’re being wooed by Kate Beckinsale in white fur, the next, you’re dressed in a Mosquito Boy costume, being pelted by a golfball canon while Teen Wolf Too yells at you. “Gotta get down, Big Time!”

In the midst of the summer hype machine that blessed us with Barbenheimer, Fool’s Paradise is a goldmine of laughs, a film that carries as much weight as the blockbuster tentpoles. 

Charlie Day’s modern interpretation of a silent-film star had me giggling my balls clean off. I’m not trying to tell you what to do, you make your own choices, but personally I’d give up the rest of my undercarriage for more of Day’s squirmy, wordless Rorschach expressions. I say this as someone who is weary of all the prequels and sequels - our world could do with a whole lot more Latte, pronto.

Synopsis: Charlie Day’s satirical comedic debut will leave you in stitches. A down-on-his-luck publicist (Ken Jeong, The Hangover), who gets his lucky break when he discovers a man recently released from a mental health facility (Charlie Day, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) looks just like a method actor who refuses to leave his trailer. Featuring an all-star cast including Ray Liotta (Cocaine Bear), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Adrien Brody (The Pianist), Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso), Edie Falco (The Sopranos), Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld), Common (John Wick: Chapter 2), Fool’s Paradise is directed and written by Charlie Day in his directorial debut. 

Signature Entertainment presents Fool’s Paradise on Digital Platforms 28th August