Review of My Date with Drew (2005) by Al K — 16 Aug 2005

I feel like going to a movie tonight but I'm already two reviews in the hole, including this one, which is making writing it feel a bit chorish at the moment. I'm not in a writing mood. I'm in a sitting back eating popcorn and being entertained mood. Stupid pretend career.

[i]My Date with Drew[/i] is a documentary of sorts by a guy named Brian about his own attempts to get a date with Drew Barrymore for the purposes of creating a documentary about it. It's a bit recursive, now that I think about it. The documentary angle seems to somehow legitimize what's basically Brian's stalkeresque quest to date a celebrity. Why didn't John Hinckley think of this? [i]My Date with Jodie[/i]. He's probably kicking himself back in the mental hospital right about now.

So Brian is this seemingly normal guy in his late 20's who went to film school and then moved to L.A. with a couple of buddies to try to get into the movie business. Between menial jobs, he goes on some game show and wins $1100 on the last question; the answer is "Drew Barrymore". This plants the idea for the movie in his head and gives him a tiny amount of money to finance it. He and his pals then go to Circuit City and buy the best video camera they can find, planning to take advantage of the store's 30 day return policy when they're done with it. This gives Brian exactly 30 days to arrange his dream date.

Why Drew Barrymore? Well, Brian has been obsessed with her ever since he was a little boy and she was that cute little girl shrieking at the sight of E.T. He proudly displays the autographed photo he received when he was a member of her fan club back in the 80s. But even though he seems genuinely thrilled at the prospect of meeting his dream girl in person, I've got to believe that this exercise is more about getting his career off the ground than actually getting a date. Brian is clearly more of an opportunist than a star crazed loony, which is the only reason he stands a chance at succeeding.

Brian and company try to arrange his date mainly by using his friends' limited connections. They know people who know other people who know Drew's limo driver or her facialist or her estranged first cousin. There are lots of phone calls and meetings and for some reason I can't quite recall, Andy Dick figures prominently.

Along with trying to arrange the date, Brian is also busy preparing for it. This is the more amusing part of the movie, as Brian's a bit of a social dope and his self-consciousness is his most charming quality. On the appearance front, he begins working out with a personal trainer in a half-hearted attempt to buff up. He also considers waxing his mat of chest hair. (Curiously, though he appears to be a close relative of the ape man, he's not familiar with the word "hirsute".) Brian also goes on a practice date with a Drew look-alike which his friends videotape and critique afterwards. (He has serious cutlery issues.).

That's about all you need to know. I'm sure you're just dying for me to tell you whether or not Brian gets the date and if so, how it goes and if he and Drew have been spotted recently holding hands on a beach in Africa, but I have to leave something for People magazine, don't I?

This certainly isn't a great movie but it held my interest and made me laugh out loud a couple of times, something Ingmar Bergman almost never does. I think your enjoyment of this film hinges almost entirely on how likable you find Brian. I thought his narration made him sound a bit full of himself at first, but that he was much more likable in the footage itself when his pomposity was replaced by doofishness.

Some of the segments feel a little stagy and seem to have been included solely for the purpose of filling out the movie (a visit to a psychic, for example). These scenes make this seem less like a documentary than like a bunch of guys goofing around with a video camera. But still. It's an amusing enough endeavor. I just hope Circuit City changes its return policy before a slew of other aspiring filmmakers latch onto this idea as the next big thing, the movie about making a movie for some spurious reason. Once was definitely enough.