Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!
* * 1/2
PG-13, 95 m Starring Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace and Josh Duhamel. Directed by Robert Luketic. Opens tomorrow.
"Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" is director Robert Luketic's first film since 2001's successful "Legally Blonde," and he is hoping to repeat his success.
In "Tad," a young, beautiful and single grocery store checkout clerk named Rosalee (Kate Bosworth) wins a "Bye Bye Birdie"-esque contest to win a date with Hollywood heartthrob Tad Hamilton (think Ben Affleck if he worked out), played by Josh Duhamel. After her 15 minutes of fame are up, she continues with her small-town Virginia life until Tad shows up, vowing to change his Hollywood lifestyle because he is inspired by Rosalee. Their fledgling relationship aggravates Rosalee's friend/boss Pete (Topher Grace), who is hopelessly in love with her. Since this dilemma cannot be solved "Y Tu Mama Tambien"-style because of its PG-13 rating, Tad and Pete have to battle to win Rosalee's heart.
This knock-down-drag-out fight hardly reaches the unrelenting gore of "Freddy vs. Jason"; however, director Luketic immediately pits these two against each other on screen by intercutting between their respective homes, set against Barry White's "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe."
While the premise is formulaic, "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!" manages to stay somewhat refreshing within its own genre. At the beginning, Tad is portrayed as a typical Hollywood bad boy and his agents, both named Richard Levy, come up with the "win a date" idea to help make Tad's public image more wholesome. Because Tad is never written to be the "bad guy" and is honest about his desire to change his ways after meeting Rosalee, the result is a less cut-and-dried story. This causes it to be as unpredictable as the predictable setup allows.
Most of the humor of the film comes from a satirical look at Hollywood, and the screenplay takes virtually no jabs at small-town life. The characters are portrayed relatively honestly - both Rosalee and Pete work at the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store. The actors are also very age-appropriate for their roles, which is refreshing since there is nothing more distracting than seeing actors in their 20s trying to play high school students.
Despite the fact that Tad's agents (Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes) attempt to provide the comic relief of the film, virtually all of the humor is provided by Topher Grace, most well-known as Eric Forman on the popular Fox series "That '70s Show." He plays nice-guy Pete with as much cynicism and sarcasm as the script allows, constantly questioning Tad's intentions. Pete never seems as if he is trying to fill a certain role, which makes the character very honest. Grace does an excellent job keeping his character both funny and heartfelt, never compromising himself to a Hollywood formula. But this resistance can only last for so long. The weight of the inevitable resolution wins out.
Ultimately, "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" is, in its essence, a very typical romantic comedy. However, there are a few deviations from this Hollywood genre that don't make it as easily dismissible as others. Fans of romantic comedies will not be disappointed by "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!" Instead, they'll find themselves often reaching for the tissues.
