Product: Date Movie [UMD for PSP] (2006)
Rating: 1.0
"Date Movie" Has It All--Oh Yeah, Except For An Actual Movie
This movie is almost too easy a target, and I don't want to spend much time on it as the essence of this film has been captured effectively by many, many other reviewers. At heart, "Date Movie" is just a bit of silliness--it has no ambition, no goals other than to showcase its preposterous spoofs. Truth be told, I usually don't mind silly escapist fun--as long as a picture knows it's not very good, you can't really hold anything else against it. My issue with "Date Movie," thus, is more complex. Movies like "Scary Movie" or "Airplane!" have done a great job skewering other films and pop culture icons--but the primary difference between those films and "Date Movie" is that they frame their spoofs and gags around an actual plot.My irritation with "Date Movie" comes from its absolute laziness in not even attempting to tell a story. Heck, it doesn't even fake it. No, apparently the sheer delight at seeing someone in a fat suit is supposed to carry us through an entire film. The gags are so random--and don't get me wrong, you might chuckle occasionally--they end up making no sense whatsoever. Have we gotten so jaded that we don't even expect a rudimentary storyline? It's sight gag, after sight gag, after sight gag--with a sound gag thrown in for variety. And it's not even as if these jokes are clever. By shooting at the easiest pop culture targets and liberally adding unnecessary bodily function humor--it's as if the filmmakers expected us to lap all their "hilarious" antics up.There are talented people in the cast. Surely Alyson Hannigan (a star of the small screen) deserves better. But at least she, and the others, are game and throw themselves into the proceedings--but to little affect. If I wanted to see sketches and skits with no connection, however, I'd watch SNL or MadTV (which might actually be more entertaining). "Date Movie" misadvertises itself in the title--there is no movie here! Normally, like I said, I wouldn't judge an inoffensive bit of nonsense like this so harshly--but this negative review goes out to all the creative screenwriters who couldn't get decent projects greenlit due to this example of filmmaking by committee. KGHarris, 02/07.