The Date

I've never seen any film by Mathney but I know from other comments that this film was made in the wake of him winning an Oscar for a different short film. Perhaps as a result of that win, this film has an odd air to it, like it is trying to do or prove something – maybe "I'll make whatever I want despite the accolades", but I'm not sure. Indeed for the majority of this very short film I did feel like I was on the outside of this film and that I was missing a lot. The plot is simple and obvious – a girl advises a guy on an upcoming date only for guy to realise that she really wants to be the subject of the date, not just an adviser. In addition to this the film also appears to be an advert for fig soups?

To me it didn't work as either and just felt like there must be something that I'm missing. As a film it is rather obvious in every regard, the plot goes where it goes so obviously that I was waiting for it to know it with a knowing humour or some sort of self-depreciating nod towards the viewer – but it never did. Likewise the advert side is so front and centre that I keep waiting for a bit of a smart twist in that regard, but again nothing. Even the coffee adverts in the UK (was it Nescafe) that had the flirting couple managed to do that with some spark and humour but here there is nothing. As actors Mathney and Pearl don't seem to really have a chemistry other than the one the words force on them – they really needed something there unspoken to make it work but it didn't.

I'll make an effort to check out Mathney's Oscar winning film, because I really think I'm outside of the "joke" here with this one. To the casual viewer though, this short film is just obvious and lacking in any wit or spark that it really needed to be more than an odd curio doing the basics.