Film Reviews

Win a Date With Tad Hamilton

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Gary Cole
• Details: US / 91 mins / (12PG).

Here's a pretty lame idea for a film: A young supermarket checkout girl from - ahh shucks - West Virginia called Rosalee (Kate Bosworth) wins a date with the titular Hollywood superstar (Josh Duhamel). After a series of saucy tabloid revelations, he's desperate to reclaim his boy next door image, lest it affect his box office appeal. The date in question goes remarkably well and the chaste Rosalee awakens something in the Hollywood star. For the sake of narrative convenience, Tad decides that he quite likes the moral fibre of Rosalee and follows her home, determined that a bit of her wholesomeness will rub off on him. Of course, at this stage, it's apparent that our girl's best pal and boss at the supermarket, Pete (Topher Grace) has the hots for her and is determined to scupper any blossoming romance between Rosalee and Tad.
If you've ever seen a romantic comedy before it's a safe bet that you'll know precisely how things will pan out in Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. Wildly predictable, the script is as fluffy and unconvincing as they come, while Robert Luketic's direction is cautiously flaccid. Nearly every joke is overly drawn out - see the preposterous Mills and Boon style mumblings of Roselee's best pal, Cathy (Ginnifer Goodwin) for shockingly unfunny evidence. Most distressingly, even the usually fiercely reliable Nathan Lane can't eke a laugh from the tired material. Give this one a miss.

Review by Garreth Murphy