Python Hyena
Date Movie (2006): Dir: Aaron Seltzer / Cast: Alyson Hannigan, Adam Campbell, Eddie Griffin, Tony Cox, Jennifer Coolidge: Vulgar satire of romances such as My Best Friends Wedding, Bridget Jones's Diary, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, Napoleon Dynamite, Wedding Crashers, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Wedding Planner, Hitch, What Women Want, and King Kong to name a few. Starring Alyson Hannigan as a fat waitress who is transformed into a looker and matched up with a potential date. Obviously inspired by the success of Scary Movie and Not Another Teen Movie. Director Aaron Seltzer proves to know the date movie clichés and exploits them. The premise works but story is standard fare. Hannigan is perfect as the hopeless waitress yearning for love. Adam Campbell plays a good foil as the potential Mr. Right. Their relationship is standard and predictable but they have superb comic chemistry. Eddie Griffin is hilarious as Hannigan's father in a jab at There's Something About Mary. Tony Cox plays the progressive Hitch but it is a one joke performance and the Will Smith reference is of little amusement. Jennifer Coolidge is another fine comic talent often ushered into these films and she will always be funnier in American Pie as Stifler's mom. Whether one wishes to share this film with a date doesn't divert the fact that it knows the clichés. Score: 6 ½ / 10
gregeichelberger
When "Airplane!" came out in late 1980, it set the standard for the spoof movie, a motion picture that parodies a whole genre of others. In "Airplane's" case, it was the disaster film. It made fun of the Airport pictures, as well as "The Posidon Adventure," "Earthquake," and "The High and the Mighty," among others.This comedy was followed in quick succession by "Spaceballs," "Amazon Women on the Moon" (which satirized sci-fi movies), the "Naked Gun" films, "Spy Hard," "Mafia" and "Repossessed" (all with Leslie Nielson), "Dracula: Dead and Loving It," "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I", and the 'Scary Movie" series.Many of these had their own special charm, although none has lived up to the dumb-but- hilarious high mark set by "Airplane!" (although Nielson's "Naked Gun" trio, based on the short-lived 1982 TV show, "Police Squad!," probably came the closest).The newest effort, however, "Date Movie" (a send-up of all of those romantic stories we love to hate), attempts to do to those tales what Dick Cheney did to Harry Whittington's face, pepper it with shotgun pellets without hitting anything vital.This film attempts to make fun of such modern work as "King Kong," "When Harry Met Sally," "Wedding Crashers," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Kill Bill," "Meet The Parents," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "The Wedding Planner," "Bridget Jones's Diary," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith," "Hitch," "Napoleon Dynamite," and a whole slew of the hip black comedies seemingly being released every week. Unfortunately, all of these are much better movies than this one satirizing them.And while the scattergun approach has worked before, the multiple targets aimed at by "Date Movie" remain unscathed and the audience, for the most part, remains unmoved (by laughter, anyway).I tried my best just to smirk at some of the "jokes" here, but I could not even force myself. I've actually been to funnier executions. This movie makes France's Reign Of Terror seem like an episode of "Rocky & Bullwinkle." I've gotten bigger laughs with MY jokes, and my jokes stink.I think you get my point.The plot (what there is of it) has one of the most untalented individuals ever to appear before a camera (including Al Gore), Adam Campbell as Grant Fonckyerdodder (get it?!), a nebbish idiot who is wooing Julia Jones (Alyson Hannigan, "American Wedding," as well as a host of bad TV shows) and the supposed comic misadventures they go through meeting his folks, Jennifer and Fred (Jennifer Coolidge and Fred Willard, both veterans of the much funnier films, "Waiting For Guffman," "Best Of Show" and "A Mighty Wind").Meanwhile, Grant's beautiful ex-girlfriend, Andy (Sophie Monk), wants him back.Other embarrassed clowns passing themselves off as celebrities appear in this travesty, wondering around like doomed souls on the deck of the HMS Lusitania just before a German torpedo smashed into her cargo of illegal armaments. These include the poor man's Wayne Brady, Eddie Griffin (he played the pimp in the "Deuce Bigalow" pictures, in fact,he plays a pimp in EVERY movie he's ever been in, so you get an idea of what I'm talking about), Carmen Electra, Michael Brooks, Matt Austin and Michael Jackson impersonator, Edward Moss and, oh, who cares?It really doesn't matter one iota, anyway, you know.With Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer ("Scary Movie") sharing writing and directing chores (much like Loeb and Leopold shared in the killing of Bobby Franks – in fact, even Clarence Darrow wouldn't defend these directors), this will go down as nothing but a dull series of parodies that fails to parodize anything and does not even remotely approach the town of Humor.It just stops at Tedium, spends about 90 minutes (although it seems much longer) and ends. To be fair, I guess seeing a cat on the toilet, King Kong groping Electra or Griffin as a midget pimp (is that the only character this goof-ball can play?!) might make one laugh. Probably the same people who sneak into locker rooms to sniff gym socks or those who voted for Al Sharpton, but not anyone else.
