I saw a trailer for this the other day in front of THE THIN RED LINE and talk about PAIN... man, it just loooked terrible in every way that a low budget comedy could be. BUT.... Blutarsky here, files in with a happy happy joy joy review so, well if free passes arrive I'll, perhaps, check it out. So if the review here gets ya... Well, perhaps you should avoid the trailer. Maybe it's just a bad trailer or I'm stupid. Well, we'll see...
Hello Harry, long-time listener, first-time caller. I just had to drop you a line about what has to be the funniest film I've seen since "There's Something About Mary." It's called "20 Dates" and it stars a first-time filmmaker by the name of Myles Berkowitz. It's definitely an "independent" film, made for around $60,000, but thankfully Fox Searchlight picked it up so the rest of humanity can enjoy it. I read about it in Entertainment Weekly a few weeks (months?) back, and ever since then I've kept the film in the back of my mind as one I definitely wanted to see. I managed to catch a sneak preview through ScreenIt! last night at the Cineplex Odeon Outer Circle here in Washington, D.C.
This film is funny. "Big-smile-on-your-face-throughout" funny. Even "hernia-laugh" funny at times. For those who don't know, the premise is that our intrepid hero, Myles, in his early thirties and recently divorced, is searching for true love, and hoping to find it in 20 dates in Los Angeles. Of course, the twist here is that he's actually filming his REAL dates, documentary style. Some dates know he's filming, others have no clue (thanks to the hidden camera). Needless to say, this unorthodox tactic provoked two lawsuits and a stab wound, all documented here.
This movie has everything, especially for people who really like movies. In his search for real, and not artificial, love, Berkowitz dissects movie romances (and how cruelly unrealistic they all are). There are just tons of great moments in this movie, so many that me and my friend spent a few hours bringing up the parts we liked ("And how about that scene where he holds hands with the girl?" or "How about when he makes fun of the French" or "Is that REALLY Tia Carrere?") To me, the desire to see a movie twice in order to catch all the things you missed is the mark of a great, even classic, comedy. Plus, any film that makes fun of the French can't be all that bad.
Definitely go see this movie. It's "independent" filmmaking at its best, and it's very funny while being brutally honest and realistic (since it is, after all, reality). Since last night was a free preview, I'm gonna see it again just so I can actually pay for a ticket to it-- the director/writer/star/guinea pig deserves to be making movies for a long time to come.
"Blutarsky"
