Official Synopsis:
Bring home the unrated DVD that lets you go all the way on the first date! With outrageous extras and footage not shown in theaters, here's the ruder, cruder version of the no-holds-barred comedy from two of the six twisted minds behind Scary Movie. Julia Jones (Alyson Hannigan from the American Pie series) is looking for love in all the wrong movies, until she snags the man of her dreams! But now, a devious ex, a farting feline and eccentric in-laws threaten her perfect Hollywood wedding!
Our Take:
There was a lot of talk about the recent horror flick Hostel; how it was the most gruesome, disgusting movie to come down the pike in a very long time. But if you ask me, it has nothing on Date Movie. I watched Hostel and only flinched once, but Date Movie had me shielding my eyes or turning away from the TV more times than I can count. It's a sad state of affairs when a spoof movie resorts solely to gross-out humor to elicit laughs. Date Movie takes that potty humor to new heights, literally turning my stomach at times.
Which might be more palatable if the movie was actually any good. I'm going to go ahead and say, though, that Date Movie is easily the worst movie of this year (or any year in recent memory, for that matter.) The best part about Date Movie? It's running time. At barely over 70 minutes, it hardly even qualifies as a full-length film. The worst part about Date Movie? Everything else. Low-brow potty humor, tired retreads of jokes that weren't funny 20 years ago when they were first put on screen, lame parodies of movies that really were funny... the film is just a car wreck. The opening credits give a clue when they list pretty much the entire canon of staple bad spoof movie actors: Fred Willard, Carmen Electra (in the film for all of about 30 seconds despite her high billing), Eddie Griffin, Jennifer Coolidge, and an African-American midget. (It's funny! Get it? Because he's small AND he's black! Get it? And he says, “I'm Hitch, Bitch!" and that's funny, because he's not Will Smith and it rhymes! Get it?)
If you're going to spoof movies, it's also not a good idea to spoof movies that were actually FUNNY the first time around. Because then, when your comedy falls flat, it's all the more obvious. Even though the Scary Movies are pretty awful, at least they make fun of serious films, so they can be at least mildly amusing by sending up a concept. This movie simply pales in comparison to even the worst movie that it parodies.
Sadly, the DVD itself isn't much better. Granted, there is a decent collection of extra features, but this is supposed to be the Unrated cut of the film. What exactly makes it unrated? There's no nudity and no swearing, so your guess is as good as mine. I mean, when you have a sequence where one of the main characters actually strips nude and you still don't see anything, that's hardly unrated in my opinion.
These are the extra features included on the disc:
* Deleted/Extended/Alternate Scenes (18 minutes) - Twelve scenes that were cut or altered for the film.
* On Dating (7 minutes) - The cast shares bad date stories and pick-up lines.
* The Quickie (4 minutes) - Watch the entire movie in four minutes. It still isn't funny.
* Romantic Screensavers - A beach setting and a fireplace video screensaver.
* Andy's Cherry Stem Surprise - See alternate cherry stem creations in this riddle-based game.
* Gag Reel (3 minutes) - A collection of bloopers.
* Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making a Spook (18 minutes) - A look at the making of the film. This feature is, in and of itself, a spoof of documentaries.
* The Hard Sell: Promotional Material - A collection of trailers, TV spots, and internet promos.
The trailer for Date Movie did little to excite me; watching it was like having a root canal. Actually, I think I’d rather have a root canal. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Overall Picture:
Movie: F
DVD: B
- Mike Spring
Editor
|
|
