Review of Win A Date With Tad Hamilton

Introduction

Tad Hamilton is one of Hollywood`s best and brightest, whose playboy lifestyle and womanising has resulted in something of a dry patch in terms of work. Of course his management team have the perfect solution to rehabilitate his public image, and devise a competition for one lucky girl to win a date with him, all proceeds going to charity of course. Rosalee Futch is the West Virginia checkout girl destined to have her life changed. With her best friends Cathy and Pete, she religiously watches every Tad Hamilton film, and Cathy persuades her to enter the competition. Of course she wins, and is soon off to Hollywood for her date, though Pete warns her to watch out for Hamilton`s playboy ways. Pete has been nurturing a secret passion for Rosalee, and has plucked up the courage to tell her so when she returns, but there is a major spanner in the works, as Tad has become smitten with Rosalee`s simple manner and outlook, and follows her back to West Virginia to woo her, and change his life for the better.

Video

It`s a recent film, and the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is pretty much flawless. The colours are strong and the image is clear throughout, although there may be the tiniest hint of grain. There`s very little that I can add to that.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 5.1 English or German. It`s a dialogue heavy film, and most of the action is confined to the front, with the surrounds being called upon for the pop soundtrack and some ambience. The dialogue is clear and subtitles are available in English, German and Turkish.

Features

There are some nice, inconsequential extras on the disc.

There are 21 minutes of deleted or alternate scenes, which pretty much amount to more of the same. Although there is some Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes stuff that could have stayed in the film.

8 minutes are devoted to a gag reel, with actors monkeying around to their hearts` content

30 pictures are put together in a photo gallery. Just once I`d like one of these galleries to make use of the whole screen, instead of sticking a tiny photo in the middle of the screen, surrounded by visual junk.

The extras are a nice complement to the film and are in keeping with the light tone and frivolous nature of the story.

Conclusion

Utterly, utterly predictable, this little teen rom-com is probably aimed at the younger end of the market, and it neatly hits all the marks. I`ll try not to spoil it for you, but by the end, Rosalee ends up with just whom you want her to be with, and the wild child womaniser Tad Hamilton is reformed into a really nice guy. It`s a story by the numbers with familiar characters, Kate Bosworth as Rosalee is wholesome, sweet and instantly likeable, best friend Pete played by Topher Grace is sarcastic, sharp tongued but hiding a secret love, Ginnifer Goodwin`s Cathy is the perfect sidekick, and Josh Duhamel as Tad is good looking, charming and belies the womanising image with a genuine warmth. His teeth also cause retinal burns. Of course there is a Yoda character that finally spurs Pete into doing the right thing. It`s strictly movie making by the numbers.

Still there are moments that liven up this film, most notably the contrast between Hollywood and the sleepy little West Virginia town that Rosalee calls home. Hollywood is shown as exceedingly weird and otherworldly, while the old home charm is laid on extra thick in West Virginia, it`s almost saccharine sweet. The most enjoyable characters in the film are Tad Hamilton`s management team of Richard Levy and Richard Levy. (Yes, one of the less funny jokes in the film, both of Tad`s agents share the same name… I had to stitch my sides up) Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes (Jack of Will and Grace fame) play them. Together they are the most memorable characters in the film, outrageous and funnier than the rest of the cast put together. A lot of their material didn`t make it into the film, but fortunately you can see some more funny moments in the deleted scenes.

Oddly enough, I felt that the characterisations were slightly skewed. Tad Hamilton`s introduction as a partying playboy was quickly forgotten in favour of a charming, warm-hearted person trying to do the right thing. Yet Pete was consistently sharp tongued, acerbic, and sarcastic and generally annoying. I found myself rooting for Tad Hamilton, which I`m sure wasn`t the intention of the filmmakers. Win A Date With Tad Hamilton is hardly memorable, wholly unsurprising and completely inoffensive. It ticks along quite nicely for ninety minutes, and is the cinematic equivalent of comfort food. Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes rescue it from utter banality though.