Genre: Comedy
Director: Aaron Seltzer
Starring: Alyson Hanigan, Adam Campbell, Fred Willard, Jennifer Coolidge
RunTime: 1 hr 20 mins
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Rating: NC-16

Opening Day : 9 March 2006

Synopsis :

The twisted minds behind Scary Movie – screenwriters Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg – this time skewer the romantic comedy genre. The new film tells the story of hopeless romantic Julia Jones (Hannigan), who has finally met the man of her dreams, the very British Grant Fockyerdoder (Campbell). But before they can have their “Big Fat Greek Wedding,” they’ll have to “Meet the Parents;” hook-up with “The Wedding Planner,” and contend with Grant’s friend Andy – a spectacularly beautiful woman who wants to put an end to her “Best Friend’s Wedding.”

Movie Review:

Sign…Sign… How in the world do I begin this movie review when there’s no plot in the first place for me to talk about?

For the record, I do not possess a hatred for comedies or has a pathetic level of tolerance towards toilet humour. For “Date Movie”, it’s akin to reviewing an 80 minutes of Jack Neo’s “Comedy Night” on television. Yes, it's even absurd than the average Wong Jing or Stephen Chow's "Mo Lei Tau" brand of comedy. Skits after skits of toilet humour and spoofs of My big fat geek wedding – Wedding planner – Meet the parents – When Harry met Sally - Hitch – Kill Bill – Bridget Jones diary and countless more. Pretty much sew together with stitches and patches.

I’m sure director/co-writer Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg must have a field day hamming it up. These guys who wrote “Scary Movie” and “Spy Hard” has apparently achieved a new low in the declining filmmaking industry. Although the original intention was spoofing the best of the romantic genres, the end result I should say is a haphazard and amateur piece of work. Even “The Naked Gun” and “Hot Shots” series has its golden moments.

However, you still need to take your hats off to Alyson Hannigan (“American Pie” and “Buffy”) who played the lead character Julia Jones, for her enduring performance in the movie given the extreme silliness. And also to Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler’s mum in “American Pie”) for her embarrassing spoof of Barbara Streisand’s character in “Meet the Fockers”. And look out for Sophie Monk's sexy bimbo performance, strictly for guys who wish to justify their admission price.

Satire works best if you have an original funny material and peppered it with parody and comical skits and not vice versa. Someone should tell Seltzer and Friedberg to keep their hands off the comic genre for a while.

Movie Rating:

(Possibly the worst satirical movie ever made in recent times)

Review by Linus Tee