Director: Aaron Seltzer
Cast: Alyson Hannigan, Adam Campbell, Sophie Monk, Tony Cox, Eddie Griffin
Plot: Julia (Hannigan) feels that she will never find the ‘one’, until a chance encounter introduces her to Grant (Campbell).
Oh dear.
Something went horribly wrong here. I was never expecting anything amazing from this movie, but at least the Scary Movie franchise could put a simple smile on my face, when I fancied a brainless watch. Date Movie goes from bad joke to bad joke, making the audience lose their faith in cinema as each new scene opens up. Parodies have always seemed a weak form of comedy, yet the Blazing Saddles, Hot Shot and National Lampoon movies handle the same issue and came up with some really engaging comedies. Date Movie does not come anywhere near the standard that those movies set with this genre.
The main flaw of this movie is that Seltzer, for some reason, decided to begin parodying comedies. Scary Movie worked because teen horrors were just waiting to be mocked. This does not work with some of the esteemed comedies seen in this film. He takes great movies like ‘Meet the Parents’ and just attempts to top their jokes. While Meet the Parents found the tricky balance between gross and tasteful, Seltzer destroys that by jumping onto the mix like an obese kid on a see-saw. He muddies the talented movies he parodies, as now when I look at Meet the Parents, I am always going to associate the cat with exploding diarrhoea. Romantic comedies are the wrong genre to satirise, as rom-coms kind of do that themselves. Most of the time, the director satirises his own lead for being so hopelessly in love. Seltzer obviously doesn’t understand that, as he bumbles around his own movie.
Alyson knew filming would be easier for Adam if he was unconscious.
There is never really a sense of direction with this movie. The story goes wherever the jokes take it. While Alyson Hannigan dancing in a fat suit raises the corners of a smile on a first watch, Seltzer writes her into a skinny, gorgeous Anna Faris stand-in, obviously trying to appeal to some Buffy fans. It is impossible to take this movie seriously, especially when Sophie Monk wanders into the plot, attempting to act, with a director that isn’t taking her seriously (not that she ever shows any reason to be taken so). There is no coherent sense of a story therefore the movie kind of charges on, relentlessly, until it cuts to a closing honeymoon scene with a needless King Kong reference. It makes you wonder how anymore ever found these jokes vaguely funny.
Why is a great actress like Alyson Hannigan in this movie? Actually, I do know, she is merely trying to break into films and sadly that requires accepting stupid roles like this. The poor girl does her best with the material and anyone who has seen How I Met Your Mother can tell that she is trying to muster up some of that Lily Aldrin spark. However, she is given the job of reacting in an amusing manner to things, which, without meaning offence, is something that Anna Faris is the queen of. It feels like Hannigan is stepping on her territory, even though she doesn’t really want to be there. All we can do is feel sorry for the actress and hopes that her next appearance on the big screen is a little more meaty that Aaron Seltzer’s failure of a comedy.
I’m sorry this review seems a little shorter than my usual articles, but there really isn’t much more to say on the subject. There is not really a single reason I can come up with to justify watching this movie, even if you aren’t paying for it. The Scary Movie franchise wasn’t amazing to begin with, but this is definitely the bottom of the barrel.
Final Verdict: It is hard to see how anyone ever found this funny. Even people just watching for Alyson Hannigan will rather they pretend she never touched the role.
One star
6pm: The Disney: The Aristocats