Nobody’s Fool *** (1986, Rosanna Arquette, Eric Roberts, Mare Winningham, Jim Youngs, Louise Fletcher) – Classic Movie Review 13,155

Director Evelyn Purcell’s likeable 1986 comedy film Nobody’s Fool is written by American playwright Beth Henley, and stars Rosanna Arquette, Eric Roberts, Mare Winningham, Jim Youngs, and Louise Fletcher.

Nobody’s Fool is a whimsical romantic comedy about Cassie (Rosanna Arquette), a lost and insecure young woman in a US West small town, caring for a wrecked mom (Louise Fletcher) and potty brother (Jim Youngs), who ‘finds herself’ when she meets a travelling Shakespeare troupe offering a community acting workshop and falls for a theatre lighting-man (Eric Roberts).

A slight plot is delicately and amusingly handled by début director Evelyn Purcell, who also coaxes out of the variable Rosanna Arquette one of her strongest performances to date.

It is charming in a way not many contemporary films manage to be, and charm counts for a lot. The young Eric Roberts is charming, and there are good performances all round from a nice cast. And yet, it was a box office failure.

The cast are Rosanna Arquette as Cassie, Eric Roberts as Riley, Mare Winningham as Pat, Jim Youngs as Billy, Louise Fletcher as Pearl, Gwen Welles Shirley, Stephen Tobolowsky as Kirk, Charlie Barnett as Nick, J J Hardy as Ralphy, William Steis as Frank, Belita Moreno as Jane, Lewis Arquette as Mr Fry, Ronnie Claire Edwards as Bingo, Ann Hearn as Linda, Scott Rosensweig as Winston, and Cheli Ann Chew as Prissy Lee.

Nobody’s Fool is directed by Evelyn Purcell, runs 107 minutes, is made by Enterprise, is released by Island Pictures, is written by Beth Henley, is shot by Mikhail Suslov, is produced by Cary Brokaw, James C Katz and Jon S Denny, and is scored by James Newton Howard.

Release date: November 7, 1986.

It was released in the US on 7 November 1986 in 290 cinemas, grossed $258,100 in its opening weekend, and went on to take $563,358 at the box office. It cost $3.6 million so it was a box office failure. The video release and the 2005 DVD release by MGM Home Entertainment might have clawed back some revenue.

Beth Henley’s play Crimes of the Heart won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1981 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play. Her screenplay for the film Crimes of the Heart (1986) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,155

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com