Alyson Hannigan

Date Movie steals from others

I think most men would agree that romances and romantic-comedies were due for a spoof (or a good beatdown). Many of us have been dragged to the latest Jennifer Lopez or Julia Roberts flick. We sit there politely and smile and hold our loved one’s hand, pretending we’re thrilled to be there - and then we roll our eyes when the woman next to us starts crying at the end of the Notebook, and we daydream about Sylvester Stallone blowing something up or punching out Mr. T.

So I was looking forward to Date Movie. I was ready to see all those romantic cliches roasted and turned on their ear. But this isn’t what I expected.

The movie is in the vein of the Naked Gun and Airplane, where a bunch of writers get together to brainstorm on one genre, and then the jokes are strung together with a loose plot. It’s a formula that has worked well. Everything is thrown at the board and you hope there will be more hits than misses.

Everything is thrown at the dart board in Date Movie and nearly everything misses the target.

Alyson Hannigan (the crazed band camp vixen from American Pie) plays an overweight waitress who dreams of getting married. She’s straight out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with the "Greek" dad being played by a black man and the mom by an Indian woman.

She meets her dream guy and they decide to get married, but his "best man" is actually a scorching hot ex-fiance, played by Sophie Monk.

The ex-flame’s bikini-clad entrance is the funniest scene in the movie, as the director milks her sexual antics to the hilt. There is also a funny scene involving Michael Jackson in an alley.

But the movie takes a bizarre turn and starts spoofing Meet the Parents, which I just don’t get. Meet the Parents was not a romantic-comedy, it was just a comedy. The director pulls several scenes straight out of that movie and inserts them into his with a little embellishment. Really gross embellishment. Except they aren’t nearly as funny as the original. Most of the scenes are just gross and lame and go on far too long.

What is the point of spoofing a comedy with more comedy when romances are so rife for tearing apart?

Jennifer Lopez, one of the queens of the genre, gets spoofed, but it’s mainly in reference to her, ahem, large asset. There’s nothing clever about the shots they take at her. It’s just, "Look, she’s got a big fanny! Isn’t that hilarious?"

The ads for Date Movie made heavy reference to the Scary Movie franchise and it’s obvious the makers are hoping the brand will be enough to please people.

Date Movie: one and a half stars

This DVD was supplied courtesy of Rogers Video Maple Ridge.