Some movies are so unbelievably bad that audiences walk away feeling disgruntled knowing they have just wasted two hours and $9 on total intellectual and artistic degradation. Date Movie is this type of film.
In fact, Date Movie – which stars Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Griffin and Carmen Electra – is so bad it’s literally impossible to identify one strong point or redeeming quality. It’s unoriginal, nonentertaining and, most disappointingly, really vulgar.
Racial, social and ethnic stereotypes abound – and not in a way that’s forgivably clever. The inclusion of gay housekeepers, midget pimps and Asian-African-American-Persian-Greek Jews is gratuitous and unfunny. If the writers’ goal was to make fun of every racial and ethnic minority, they succeeded. Too bad they didn’t have a purpose or a punchline.
In addition to tacky characters, Date Movie – written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer – is a horrible parody. As if it’s not enough that the film beats the audience over the head with references to nearly every film made in the past 10 years, it weaves these unrelated plots in a way that is entirely overwhelming and nonsensical.
Sure, parodies don’t need to make total sense. But after seeing a Dodgeball flashback within a Kill Bill fight scene within a Hitch-arranged Meet the Parents fiasco, the audience has no idea what’s going on. The product is much less cohesive and interesting than comparable films like Scary Movie or Not Another Teen Movie, which at least have some semblance of a plot.
The film is tacky and over-the-top in a way that actually leaves the audience feeling embarrassed. By the end of the film, even the 17-year-old Evanston Township High School students sitting behind me weren’t laughing anymore.
That said, Date Movie has one perk: It’s really short. At only 80 minutes long, the film graciously bundles its torture into one reasonably digestible nugget. But my advice is to spare yourself the agony.