Prismark10
A chick flick romantic comedy although the laughs are mainly provided by Sean Hayes and Nathan Lane.Tad Hamilton is an actor known for wholesome roles but when he is caught drinking and driving, leering with a floozy, his agents decide to get him some positive publicity by raising money for charity via a lottery. The lucky winner getting a date with him.Kate Bosworth plays the likable blonde from a small town who adores him and wins the date. For some reason even though the film is set in the modern day, she and her best friend thinks Tad is wholesome just like his film persona. Such lack of cynicism.Topher Grace plays Bosworth's friend who has always yearned for her but has been afraid to tell her. Tad has a good time in LA with Bosworth and follows her down to their small town, making Grace jealous.This is light, inoffensive, frothy film but with little substance. All the leads are likable enough, even Josh Duhamel gives Tad some likability and sincerity but it never amounts to much.
napierslogs
As my readers know, I like romantic comedies, but I have also lambasted my fair share of them as well. "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" is certainly not good but it has its moments.Starting with its negative points. This has to be one of the worst, most over-done, tiresome story lines ever. Small-town girl meets big movie star, he falls in love with her charms, but can she fit in to his world? Usually the answer is I don't care. And this time I certainly was not excited to see how they get to the inevitable ending, but its cuteness kept me watching none-the-less.Casting is a double-edged sword, and here they played both sides of it. Fairly out-of-the-box casting ideas is what drew me in. Topher Grace as Pete is handsome, adorable, and you can feel his pain when he can't get Rosalee to notice him. Josh Duhamel as Tad Hamilton is in all ways the big, hot-shot, drop-dead-gorgeous movie star. And finally, Kate Bosworth as Rosalee is the girl-next-door, sweet, innocent, down-to-earth and every other endearing synonym you can come up with. They are all humble enough that it works. And then they added the flamboyant Sean Hayes and Nathan Lane for their inevitable laughs. The interesting issue I had was that the main actors were all 30-ish (Bosworth was slightly younger) and they were all older than their teen and pre-teen audience. I would have thought that younger actors would draw more for their target audience."Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" is not all that good, but as a fan of Topher Grace, I found myself almost liking it.
Lechuguilla
A naive, young woman, Rosalee (Kate Bosworth), from hicks-ville, wins a date with a self-absorbed Hollywood hunk straight out of central casting. The smarmy guy is all smiles and no depth. But then, none of the characters in this film have much depth.The plot contains lots of predictably awkward moments, as Rosalee's down-home lifestyle clashes with the hunk's Hollywood lifestyle. Stereotypes abound. And given that the down-home setting is West Virginia, the story is fairly insulting.The script implies that Americans who do not live on the West Coast or the East Coast are simple-minded, unsophisticated dolts that idolize Hollywood sophistication. Wow! The corporate suit that approved money for this film is dreadfully out of touch, and needs to get out of Tinseltown, fast.Nothing in the script is credible, not the characters, not the plot, not the dialogue. And the ending you can see coming a mile away. Cinematography consists of bright, garish colors. And the soundtrack is irritatingly hip.With the exception of Topher Grace (miscast as Rosalee's supermarket boss), the actors overact their roles, in an apparent effort to force humor into the film. Actually, the DVD outtakes are funnier than anything in the film. Nathan Lane is marginally tolerable as a Hollywood bigwig. But Sean Hayes, in an unnecessary role, is super annoying, with that permanent smirk that seems pasted to his face.Evidently aimed at an audience of junior high school girls, this bubble gum flick is annoying in its insulting stereotypes, its predictability, and in its puerile, prepubescent tone.
ed_two_o_nine
I came to this movie without much hope bit being a fan of romantic comedies in general. However I was pleasantly surprised by this movie without thoroughly enjoying it. Given the choice I would not watch this film again (as regular readers know is my barometer for judging a film) but I would watch it with my wife.The film runs to the tried and tested formula of teen romantic comedies and the ending is obvious from the outset. But there is still plenty to enjoy here.The cast all perform well without anybody standing out, though the chemistry between the three major characters could have been better.Fans of the genre could do a lot worse than check out this film.
AD
