Alyson Hannigan

Well, I made the trip (a very long trip mind you) to go and see Date Movie starring my favorite actress. No, not Sophie Monk, but Alyson Hannigan.

Now I ask you, what can be cooler than going to watch your favorite actress on the big screen? Why, going to watch your favorite actress on the big screen with her dad of course.

So, if you read on you will catch a flavor of my experience of watching Date Movie with Alyson Hannigan’s dad (complete with pics - blurry and unrevealing), but you will not learn any personal information about Alyson, like her choice of underwear, what creme rinse conditioner she uses, or whether her “real” hair color is auburn.

Now, I’ll stop rambling and get to the meat of the tale . . .

Keep in mind this review of the Date Movie and Hannigan’s acting (Alyson’s, not her dads) are purely my opinions and do not reflect my sponsors, McDonald’s Big Mac, or Alyson’s dad’s views - though I will sneak a few of those in when he’s not looking.

Al and Einey his pooch. It all began when Aly’s dad posted on a forum that it would be cool if some Alyson fans and he could go together and see Alyson in Date Movie. Now, being a good friend of Al (that’s her dad’s name - no big secret there I think) I decided to take up the challenge and do the very thing he suggested.

So I did. I booked off the end of the work week and motored down to where Al lives. During the drive my many boyhood injuries came back to remind me, with aches and pains, that I should not have taken my firm athletic body for granted in my youth by testing its resilience with excessive, abusive sports. You see, I was almost crippled by the sitting for hours upon hours upon - hours to get there.

But I survived, and it was well worth it . . .

. . I arrived to be greeted by Alyson’s dad, his dog and even his very friendly and affectionate cat. (Yeah, I’m allergic, very allergic)

Anyhow, before the movie Al and I chatted about (content edited to protect Alyson) and I couldn’t believe Alyson Hannigan really did that when she was fourteen. I wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes after that story until Al told me about the time (further editing to protect Alyson) and I sat for a long while, the secret finally revealed about which brand of underwear she prefers. And I had no idea we used the same creme rinse conditioner . . .

Al and Paul Outside TheaterAnd yes, this little joke has run its course and gone on far too long. Which brings me directly to -

 the review of Date Movie and Alyson’s acting prowess within.

Here we are outside the AMC theater beating back the crowds so we could get a clean picture of the front of the building. If you look closely you can see Al and myself in the reflection of the glass doors . . .

Al in crowded theaterAnd then, after struggling to get a good seat, we finally found two. It was tough. Here is Al munching on popcorn and waiting for the show to start. I tried to get the red reflection out of his eyes, but seem to have all but obliterated his face in this shot. I know, I should have saved a copy . . .

Anyhow, first I’m going to say the good stuff, and to those who are familiar with Alyson’s acting talents, this will come as no surprise. Alyson is the star of this movie and there is no doubt. Watching her mastery of the facial expression is wonderful to say the least. It could have been my years of watching and re-watching Buffy that had me recognizing her stock and trade looks.

Al’s little girl?That’s not to say they aren’t wonderful to see, but they (to me) seemed a bit out of place in this movie - like a diamond in the rough. Aly is so good at expressing in her eyes, face and body language what emotion she wants to portray it’s really quite remarkable. (hence my remarks . . .) Throw in the fact that she is so darn cute (not quite as cute as my own daughter, concurs Al - see how I snuck that in.) and you can’t help but like her.

Despite Alyson’s top notch portrayal of Julia, however, the movie itself suffered from jokes that went on (screen time that is) far too long. About half the movie’s jokes worked for me, and about half the movie’s jokes kind of fizzled or were just pure gross-out, and even in places seemed totally out of sinc with the movie.

It seemed as though the editor or director or chimpanzee or whomever was responsible for cutting the movie together didn’t have a clear idea of how to pace it properly. That said, there were enough funny bits to have you laughing out loud and an equal number of “gross” parts to have you saying, “that is disgusting”

Al and I did just that at the approriate times. The overall experience of watching the movie was a good one, I think. I will share one thing Al said here (if you are reading this it means it has not been edited out) Al said to me at the beginning of the movie, when Alyson was in the fat suit, she reminded him of the “real” Alyson he knows more than the rest of her “acting” in the film. Real as in personality, not physical dimensions.

I could do some more nitpicking or praising, but I’m going to end off with these thoughts. If you like Alyson Hannigan’s acting - you will want to see this movie. She really is a treat to watch. But, as a coherent movie it kinda fails. If you go in with the mind-set of - Aly will be fun to watch and some of the jokes will be damn funny - then you should not be disappointed.

And one last comment. Al did say (again if it’s here it has not been chopped) how good it was to see Alyson’s credit listed first. I had to agree with him. It’s been too long in coming.

I look forward to the day when Alyson Hannigan, like Reese Witherspoon, will accept the Academy award for best actress. I’m pretty sure that with the right script that will happen for her.

In the mean time you can catch Alyson Hannigan on “How I Met Your Mother” as Lily.