Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!

I've heard a lot of mixed reviews for this movie. It occurred to me that I really had no desire to watch this film beforehand but a week ago, there was nothing to watch and suddenly Win a Date with Tad Hamilton popped up. So I watched it. I thought the movie was decent. Nothing special and very forgettable but it was still alright to me. Topher Grace and Josh Duhamel put up some good performances especially Topher. I thought he played a really good role. There were some funny jokes and a couple laughs like the scene when Topher and Josh are cutting wood and Josh takes off his shirt while Topher does same. I thought that scene was the funniest part of the movie. Overall, nothing really special to this film and very forgettable, but still I thought it was a decent romantic comedy Hedeen's Outlook: 6/10 ** C-

Rosalee Futch (Kate Bosworth), Pete Monash (Topher Grace), and Cathy Feely (Ginnifer Goodwin) are best friends and co-workers at the local Piggly Wiggly. Pete secretly pines for Rosalee, and Cathy's the ugly best friend. Tad Hamilton (Josh Duhamel) is a big movie star with a shallow life. To rehab his image, they create a contest to win a date with Tad Hamilton.

Kate Bosworth is way too hot at the start. They've got to ugly her up and do a big makeover when she gets to Hollywood. And the truth is the dates with Tad Hamilton aren't the most compelling watch. Bosworth and Duhamel are really really pretty people. They are fine actors but they're completely overshadowed by the much more funny Topher Grace. The movie shines with Topher. The best scene comes when Toper and Duhamel have a shirt off. He's the only truly funny thing about this movie. Sean Hayes and Nathan Lane are annoying little cartoons as Tad Hamilton's people. Ginnifer Goodwin does a few funny lines but she doesn't have enough to do. They need to cut short the dates, and invest the time with the 4 main characters together.

I enjoyed "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton". It's a brainless, cutesy little romantic comedy -- but that's okay since it doesn't try to be anything deep or uber meaningful. Topher Grace does a good job playing the sort of nerdy-uber romantic-always crushing on cheerleaders but never having one as a girlfriend guy. It seems to be a really natural performance, possible too natural? ;) Just kidding. But honestly, he does as good of a job as any guy can do in a movie that is totally geared towards the female population. Needless to say, the moral of this story is pretty obvious and it's one we've seen at least a gazillion times before. But I liked it and it's perfect if you're looking for something that requires no brain power at all.

This movie is definitely a "chick flick." Both male leads are played pretty well. Josh Duhamel portrays the self-absorbed actor well, but has difficulty being believable when he is supposedly being sincere. Of course, maybe that's the point. Topher Grace, on the other hand, is able to portray an emotion in very subtle ways, and is therefore perfect as the inwardly-tortured old friend.

Kate Bosworth's character seems to be quite one-dimensional, and not always consistently. She is overly naive, even for a small town hick. I get the impression that the Hollywood types who wrote her part have never been to a small town, or at least, not since the 50s. There are sweet, wholesome people in this world, but they are more realistic than this girl. It is difficult to ascertain who the protagonist is. Is it Topher or Kate? His character has more depth than hers, but it appears that the story revolves around her.

Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes provide much-needed comedy and interest to the story. I found myself looking forward to their appearances on-screen. Funny moments and a few good performances make it worthwhile, but I definitely believe it will appeal more to us women than the men.

I felt like this movie could have been a lot better if there had been some real chemistry between both Tad (Josh Duhamel) and Rosalee (Kate Bosworth) and Pete (Topher Grace) and Rosalee would have had just a little bit of chemistry. Rosalee was so ditzy and had no personality or substance in the film, although both of the men chasing after her claimed that she did. I didn't root for either couple to stay with her, because I couldn't believe that either character would have been interested in her. Her first scenes when she met Tad were extremely cheesy, and her annoying accent when conversing with Pete was too much to handle. Too bad since Topher Grace is fabulous in any role and the hotness of Josh Duhamel cancels out any flaws in his acting.