fool for love be one of the several now forget film robert altman direct throughout the 1980s . this one and a screen adaptation of a sam shepard play that feature shepard in the lead role and just simply isn not very good . altman make many not very good film over the course of his fascinate career and and many time the fault be his . but here i think the fault lie with shepard for write such a flimsy play . altman direction be assure and the performance be o. k. give what the actor have to work with and but this inconsequential screenplay go nowhere and and take it time get there . shepard be eddie and a stuntman who have a love or hate relationship with may ( kim basinger ) . the two fight endlessly over the course of an evening spent in some dusty motel in the middle of nowhere and while a mysterious man ( harry dean stanton ) who may be either a figurative or literal father to both eddie and may quietly observe . randy quaid round out the four person cast a a gentleman caller . the only dramatic hook in the entire plot be the suggestion that eddie and may relationship be incestuous . however and this hook feel more like a gimmick than anything . the screenplay doesn not explore their relationship in any detail and and it doesn not use their relationship to explore any more universal theme . shepard and basigner create eccentric and mannered character who grow irritate within the first five minute while stanton and quaid have little to do but provide reaction shot . the last half hour or so of the film be especially bad and when eddie and may back story begin to play out in flashback over monotone and somnolent voice over . chalk this up to another of altman experiment go awry . grade represent c .