DATE MOVIE

After three SCARY movies, its romantic comedies turn for parody with DATE MOVIE. The film is in the same vein as the SCARY MOVIE films, but this time date movies are the target. Alyson Hannigan, of AMERICAN PIE fame, is Julia Jones, a twenty-something single, overweight woman who’s looking for Mr. Right. After receiving a drastic makeover with the help of Hitch, she goes on the television series “The Bachelor” and instantly falls for the show’s main attraction, Grant. Their main obstacle towards marital bliss is the fact that each will have to meet the other’s parents.

Just as many modern horror films mistakenly equate gore for terror, many comedies equate vulgarity for laughs. This error in judgment, and taste, has culminated with DATE MOVIE, a film so misconceived that it can’t identify itself as a parody of parodies. Many romantic comedies are ripe for the picking, but the ones that DATE MOVIE chooses, and more specifically the reasons they are chosen, are off the mark. Moments from MEET THE PARENTS, MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING and MY BIG FAT GREEK WEEDING are all spoofed, but many of the moments from these films were intended to be over-the-top. So what we’re left with is over-the-top jokes of over-the-top jokes, and it doesn’t work. DATE MOVIE’s tag line is “A film for people who love date movies, and people who hate them”. I can unequivocally say that DATE MOVIE isn’t for anyone.

Grade: F