“You are everything I never knew I always wanted.”

Justin’s rating: It’s the rare Las Vegas movie that’s not about casinos, heists, and showgirls

Justin’s review: With the recent loss of Matthew Perry at the relatively young age of 54, I thought it’d be a fitting tribute to review one of his reportedly better movie outings. But will Fools Rush In displace The Whole Nine Yards in my heart? We shall see.

For the few notable films that Perry did, he seemed to have settled into the romcom groove. Here. he’s Alex, a night club architect who bumps into the alluring Isabel (Salma Hayak) at a diner, has a one-night stand, and accidentally gets her pregnant. When she reconnects with him after three months, Isabel reveals that she’s pregnant — and the two of them decide that a spontaneous wedding would go well with the spontaneous hookup.

But these spur-of-the-moment decisions aren’t followed up with an easy happily-ever-after. The duo barely knows each other and thus has to start dating within their marriage. Alex finds that he’s unwittingly dived into a deep pool of Mexican culture, a large Christian family, and complicated relationships. Their love and devotion has to cross this divide and work to bring them together as a couple.

“Marriage is all about finding a middle ground,” Isabel’s mother says to her as she’s frustrated Alex isn’t fully jumping on board with the whole cultural-immersion strategy.

While this is a tall order, it helps quite a bit that they’re both genuinely nice, likable, sincere people. Alex is prone to jitters and outbursts of high energy, while Isabel is passionate and artistic. But a good marriage takes more than adorkable mannerisms and love at first sight. They’ve got to put in the work to overcome a lot of inherent obstacles, including where to live, how to live, and how to deal with two families that don’t know what to make of this union.

What I definitely loved the most about this movie were all of the little moments of relatable affection between the two. They’re smitten with each other, and seeing Isabel swat Alex on the butt or drag him back into the bathroom so they could hang out while she pees on the toilet made them feel like a real couple.

Perry plays Alex as a softer, slightly less sarcastic Chandler Bing, and it wears well on him. He gets a few good one-liners, but those are sprinkled about sparingly. He’s more of a fish out of water, with his temporary trip to Las Vegas from NYC turned into more of a permanent thing, and while he struggles with the changes, he rises to his responsibilities and shows a remarkable degree of growth and flexibility.

But as likable as Perry is here, Hayak is an exuberant spark that is hard to stop watching. Her Isabel is the emotions to Alex’s logic, and she wears those emotions on her sleeves without becoming a caricature. Pairing her with photography as a passion makes sense, as she moves through the world with an eye for detail.

Listen, this isn’t a deep movie. Even with the slightly unconventional jump into marriage before the romance, Fools Rush In hits all the expected beats of the genre. But it’s a breezy good time with two leads that you genuinely want to be together exploring parenthood, religion, family life, home decoration, and more.

Intermission!

• Swordfish are useful to push elevator buttons
• “He just needed a hug, sir.”
• Isabel flinging a coin off the Hoover Dam
• She can pee faster than anyone in the world
• “You’ve been avoiding that?” “Since the third grade.”
• This has a pretty lively soundtrack
• He family dinner is quite the spectacle
• “Chewie, hi, Luke Skywalker, nice to meet you.”
• “Hold her head, hold her head.” “Why, does it come off?”
• Elvis tries to steal a kiss at the wedding
• I think the dad has a good right to be upset
• “Small! Ugly! Thing! Biting! Me!”
• The house makeover
• Isabel making Alex stay while she pees
• “And I know this one canyon, that if you sit there long enough, nobody finds you and you die.”
• That’s a whole lot of snakes… and guns
• “Whatever you do, don’t turn over.”
• “In case you haven’t noticed, the white people are MELTING OUT HERE.”
• “You’re not my favorite person right now.” man that resonates
• When an OSHA car gets crushed by your club’s sign, you’re not going to have a good week