Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!

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 honestly thought I would like this film. I'm pretty much the target demographic (17 year old girl with a liking for romantic comedies and good looking boys) so I thought this film would be a great way to kill a couple of hours on a boring thursday night.

And to be honest, the plot isn't too bad. It's a predictable love story, but then again predictable love stories are the reason why I fell in love with classics such as Dirty Dancing. This story is sweet and the ending did have me going "awwww...". But let me put it his way: it will only make you "awww" if you are a chick flick fan. If you are not a chick flick fan, you'll probably have had enough sugar by the first forty five minutes. It's definitely what I like to refer to as a "Red Bull". Totally sugary and so perky, at times, it can be disturbing.

However, although I liked the story, I was totally disappointed with the acting. The acting is what shames this movie. Kate Bosworth is terrible. She's the biggest typecast of the wholesome girl next door and her squealing and vacant, wide eyed stares belong on the Bold and the Beautiful. Not on the big screen. And although she tries, Ginnifer Goodwin's character of Cathy is so flat and one dimensional. She should be slutty, but instead of any sort showing of sex appeal (the only character with sex appeal is Angelica the bartender who I truly believe is one of the best actors in the film), Cathy's dialogue is littered with overt, tacky, cringeworthy sexual innuendo. Infact, not even that. It's usually laid out on the table. But instead of laughing, you just feel like slapping her. Such a shame for Goodwin, as I was impressed with her performance in Mona Lisa Smile and this character is well beneath her talent. Josh Duhamel plays the "duh" factor to perfection. His pecs are far more of a star than he is. Enough said.

What really, really surprised me though was that I fell head over heels in love with Topher Grace and his character, Pete. He did a wonderful job conveying his jealous, unrequited love. I truly hope we see more from him, because he was the only actor in this film I didn't feel like slapping. Oh, I liked Angelica too. She was good. And of course, Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes. Always good for a laugh.

I can't really recommend this film for anyone. I think even the tween market will be disappointed with it. Hey, they might enjoy the "awww" factor. Everyone else will just walk out and have forgotten it within 15 minutes.

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-

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.

Okay, I wasn't born last week, so I knew the ending before the opening credits were over. But I still thought this had the chance to be original and maybe even edgy and maybe..everything it wasn't.

Girl has understandable crush on famous movie star. Movie star needs some good press so his agents get the bright idea to set him up on a date with a total stranger. Meanwhile, girls stuttering dweeb of a friend has a crush on her but has never told her, cause as I mentioned, he's a stuttering dweeb. Girl wins date (SURPRISE SURPRISE), goes to LA, and does not have the worse time of her life, and goes back home. She does NOT sleep with the movie star, which impresses him and is the best moment in the movie (when he says "Good for you" to Rosie); its him realizing she may be a person of substance, and explains why he follows her home to East Hell, West Virginia, so 'some of her goodness can rub off on him', or something to that effect. Then movie star BUYS A FARM in West Virginia, meets the girls father, and invites her back to LA to begin shooting a movie he's been dying to get.

Don't have to tell you the rest, except that Bosworth plays Rosalie like she has straw sticking out of the side of her mouth. Josh is, of course, a shallow cigarette-smoking (that's a sure indication of his lack of integrity; in the NEW Hollywood, only bad people smoke) self-absorbed ACTOR, and Topher Grace stutters and hems and haws like he has a nervous tic. He ruined what might have been decent entertainment.

There is an insight or two, as mentioned, nothing memorable or profound. In many ways, the title of the movie is the best thing about it. I like a title that tells it all, what can I say..5/10.