Review of My Date with Drew (2005) by Dylan G — 23 Sep 2005

Really wanted to see My Date with Drew. It seemed like an interesting film, although I had only read a bit about it and never had seen a trailer or anything of the sort. Anyways, I finally got to see it and I was pretty disappointed. What could?ve been a good film ended up being not very good. My Date with Drew has many problems, although it isn?t horrible, it is a disappointing film.

My Date with Drew is a documentary made by Brian Herzlinger. We find out early on in the movie that Brian is a huge fan of Drew Barrymore. He was born a year after Drew Barrymore. When he was 6 years old, he saw his first Drew film; E.T. Brian developed a huge crush on Drew and joined her fan club. Now he is 27, and he still has a crush on Drew Barrymore after all these years. He is obsessed with her. After Brian wins $1100 on a game show, he decides it?s time to meet Drew, for two reasons. He now has $1100, which is more than he?s had in ages and also, the answer to the question that won him the $1100 was Drew Barrymore. Brian sees this as a sign to start a quest to get a date with Drew Barrymore.

First, Brian enrolls the help of his two friends, Jon Gunn and Brett Winn to help him. He takes advantage of Circuit City?s 30 day return policy by buying a video camera. Since he can?t afford to actually buy this camera, he will return it in 30 days and not have to pay. He uses the camera to film his journey. Brian believes that he can get a date with Drew in 30 days with the $1100.

So Brian sets off on his quest, believing that he can contact Drew through people that know people that know people that know Drew, if you get what I mean. He also tries many different attempts to meet Drew, such as sneaking into the Charlie Angels 2 premiere and sending Drew video tapes. He also gets interviews with people such as Cory Feldman, John August and Drew Barrymore?s first cousin. He also prepares for the date. He starts working out, gets a haircut and even goes on mock Drew Barrymore dates to prepare.

My main problem with My Date with Drew is the lack of humor. My Date with Drew looked like a funny film and I often read that it was a funny, charming movie. Frankly, I didn?t find it funny. Recent documentaries, such as Super Size Me, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine were much, much funnier than My Date with Drew. I think most of the theatre agreed with me too. Only two people in the theatre were laughing at My Date with Drew. Everyone else was silent. I really didn?t find anything very funny about this guy stalking Drew Barrymore, in fact, I found it pretty creepy. You can tell that Brian was going for a funny film, but he failed. Brian singing along to songs in his car isn?t funny, especially the fourth or fifth time we see them. Most of Brian?s jokes aren?t funny either. There were a few funny scenes. My favourite was when Brian watched his practice date on camera with his friends. Brian, who thought he had done well, was surprised when his friends pointed out all the bad things he had done, like repeatedly stabbing his potato with his knife. It wasn?t too funny, but worth a giggle. Frankly, this movie isn?t very funny.

Not being funny isn?t a big deal; documentaries can be good without being funny, but I just was expecting something funny. Another big problem with this movie is sometimes it isn?t very interesting. About 50% of the movie is enjoyable to watch, while the other half is much more boring. Some of Brian?s quest was interesting, such as his training for the date. I thought that it was interesting to see how he prepared and stuff. Some of Brian?s schemes were interesting too, such as sneaking into the Charlie Angel 2 premiere. It was interesting to see if his plan would work and if he could actually get to meet her. So about half of Brian?s quest was interesting. The other half was pretty boring though. There are way too many boring scenes where Brian or his friend?s just phone people e-mail people. Frankly, I don?t find phone calls very interesting. The exception would be something like the phone calls in Scream, which are interesting and scary, but the phone calls in My Date with Drew are just phone calls about planning interview dates and stuff. It?s boring. There?s also plenty of boring interviews that lead nowhere. Brian interviews many different people. One time he interviews Corey Feldman, in which nothing interesting happens. Same with most of Brian?s interviews, nothing of interest happens. So I?d say about half of My Date with Drew is interesting. There?s some interesting stuff, but there?s plenty of boring interviews and phone calls.

My Date with Drew tries to portray Brian Herzlinger as a lovable, funny, guy. He?s supposed to be likeable, but frankly, I didn?t really like him. First of all, this guy?s a nerd. He?s devoted practically his whole life to Drew Barrymore. He won $1100 on a game show, and uses it all on getting to meet Drew Barrymore. He doesn?t have a job; he had to result to mooching money off his parents. He is just too obsessed with Drew Barrymore. He also makes tons of annoying jokes and stuff. Him singing in the car was supposed to be funny, but no one laughs at it, everyone is just left with the impression that he?s a nerd. That?s one reason I don?t like him, he?s a nerd. I also dislike him because he is creepy. He keeps talking about how he doesn?t want to come off as a stalker to Drew Barrymore. He is a stalker! For god?s sake, once you sneak into a movie premiere just to meet Drew Barrymore, you are a stalker. I just don?t find him very likeable. He?s a nerdy, creepy, stalker who?s devoted his whole life to Drew Barrymore.

The movie style isn?t very good either. Bowling for Columbine was a good movie. Besides the actual documentary, there were other things, such as the short cartoon about gun violence. In Super Size Me, there were similar interesting things thrown in. Those two documentaries had an interesting style; they had lots of interesting things thrown in. I would?ve liked to see some of that in My Date with Drew, which could?ve made it more interesting. My Date with Drew was just the footage they shot. I would?ve liked to see some other things, if you get what I mean.

I don?t really know what else to write about. Acting, special effects, suspense, and other stuff like that don?t need to be talked about since they don?t happen in documentaries. I think I?ve covered the biggest and most important point, that My Date with Drew isn?t very interesting and can get quite boring.

Overall, My Date with Drew isn?t very good. It?s not too interesting, not too funny, and Brian Herzlinger is annoying. Although there were interesting things, I don?t think it?s worth theatre price, or even the price of a rental when it comes out.