Fool for Love may be silly and stupid, but it's certainly interesting to talk about. It's divided into two parts: in the first, nothing happens, and in the second, everything happens.
When the movie begins, it looks as if Robert Altman is trying to make his own version of Paris, Texas- both are set in the modern American West, both are written by Sam Shepard (who also stars in this film), both also feature Harry Dean Stanton, and both are very slow moving. But that's where the similarities end- despite it's pace, things actually happened in Paris, Texas, while in this film Altman and Shepard take about an hour to show other filmmakers would have depicted in ten minuets (I'm not alone in thinking this, Kristen felt I might have actually overestimated how long this material would take in a normal film).
What little story there is involves Shepard as Eddie, a drifter who arrives at a dilapidated New Mexico hotel, and finally tracking down May (Kim Basinger) his former lover. Although he does a break down a door in a rather unconvincing way, the vast majority of the first hour is spent as Eddie and May have the same argument over and over and over again. There is also a brief sidetrack involving Stanton as May's father, who may or may not be ghost or a figment of her imagination.
But when the movie arrives at its climax, it pulls out all the stops. Melodramatic revelation follows melodramatic revelation. None of this is believable and although the far-fletched climax makes the film artistically worse, it makes the experience of watching it better, as it certainly is not boring.
In its defense, Stanton does his usual strong acting and there is some very good photography and a strong sense of atmosphere. But it doesn't lead anywhere. In addition to the poor writing, the film is also hurt by the lead actors. Shepard isn't very charismatic and, despite her obvious effort, I had a hard time believing Basinger as a uneducated hick going nowhere.
Some may argue that a two and a half star rating is too kind to this film, and in a way, they are correct, but the film is so strange and the climax so melodramatic that it has a certain level on interest to it. It doesn't work, and is completely pointless, but it wastes time in a unique way.
Fool for Love (1985)