Movie Review: Date Movie
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What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that this film is comprised of
relentless obnoxiousness. Body and bodily function jokes
include gastrointestinal distress, coughing up hairballs,
moles, and pimples (one popped to release lots of goo); a
chicken wing stuck between a girl's teeth, body makeover in the
form of "Pimp My Ride" (hair removal, liposuction, a sander for
yellow toenails, a drill taken to girl's body); cat using the
toilet with much farting and grunting; urn with grandma's ashes
also includes skeleton (which cat proceeds to hump, sexually);
and cats are tossed about in an old woman's apartment. Sex and
"date" jokes include horrified reactions to obese girl (her
breasts turn around on her body as the soundtrack plays
"Milkshake," which includes sexual references); sloppy and
extensive kissing; arranged marriages; boy's last name
(Fonckyerdoder, reference to "Focker"); couple exchanges lyrics
of 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" (sexual references); allusion to
"knocked up"; uses of "ho" and "bitch"; a cat smokes a
cigarette, apparently after sex with old woman.
Families can talk about how this kind of humor influences kids and their developing relationship to their sexual lives. They can also ask what would happen in real life if these situations occurred. Since the target group for this movie is young teens who are emerging into their own sexuality, it's important to have a discussion that balances out the movie's humor with respect for the opposite sex and for sex itself.
Common Sense Media Review
Alyson Hannigan deserves better. In fact, we all deserve
better than DATE MOVIE, a slow-witted assembly of every date
movie joke we've already seen. As the obese, poor-complexioned
Julia, she laments her dating prospects even as her father
(Eddie Griffin) urges her to marry a filthy, stringy-haired
local guy (Judah Friedlander), but she falls for the gorgeous
Grant Fonckyerdoder (Adam Campbell), whom she serves at her
father's Greek Diner.
From here the film goes nowhere, feebly. Its "comic" strategy is to pile on references to other movies, as if the references themselves are jokes. But reminding viewers of iconic moments from Meet the Fockers, Pretty Woman, The Wedding Planner, When Harry Met Sally..., Sleepless in Seattle, Wedding Crashers, Napoleon Dynamite, Hitch, and Star Wars, among many, many others, only reminds you why you might have liked the first version, and doesn't excuse or explain the cheap knockoff.
In order to win Grant's heart (or something), Julia undergoes a makeover in which she's treated like a car on Xzibit's MTV show, Pimp My Ride. This leaves her svelte and gleamy, Hannigan looking perfectly adorable and sultry at the same time (she is a lovely comedian, too, quite willing to undergo all manner of abuse and able to maintain a remarkable sense of dignity). She heads off for advice from date doctor Hitch (Tony Cox), for whom she demonstrates a frankly astonishing ability to dance "crunk" (as in the documentary Rize). He sends her to pursue her man, whom she wins over, leading to a series of unfunny meet-the-parents gags (Grant's are played by Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge, copying Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, whose first version of these outsized personalities were quite outsized enough, thanks).
Julia's primary competition for Grant's attention is not the hot-bodied houseboy Eduardo (Mauricio Sanchez), to whom he reportedly lost his virginity, but his ex-fiancée and current "best man" Andi (big-lipped Sophie Monk). She strips in front of the engaged couple, dances provocatively for Grant, and schemes to win him back (in particular, sabotaging Julia's wedding arrangements). All tedious, all predictable, and not at all enjoyable.
Families who like silly comedies may also like Scary Movie, American Pie (to see Hannigan again), or Airplane!, the movie-spoof movie that did it first and best.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
