“Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!” is the latest romantic comedy from sought after director Robert Luketic. And while Luketic maintains the colorfully accelerated reality that made his 2001 debut “Legally Blonde” a massive success, “Tad Hamilton” can’t quite reach the same level of cross-genre wit.
But this is not entirely Luketic’s fault. His energy is undeniable, blanketing the screen with intense colors and a tangible Golden Age of Hollywood quality, which, with some great between-the-line acting and a few finely tuned supporting characters, propels this film just beyond the realm of your average romantic comedy.
The actual plot could be grasped by simply reading the title. What would it be like to win a date with a famous Hollywood movie star? This is exactly what happens to West Virginia native and Piggly Wiggly clerk Rosalee Futch (Kate Bosworth, “Blue Crush”). Tad Hamilton, played by Josh Duhamel, who won an Emmy for his work on “All My Children,” is the good guy on the silver screen but has the partying bad-boy thing down as soon as he steps off set. When these two character’s worlds collide you get a predictable but pleasant plot. Topher Grace (“That 70’s Show”) rounds out a love triangle as Rosalee’s co-worker Pete, as he has been in love with Rosalee for years but missed his chance to act.
Where the movie gets stuck is in the elastic writing, which can bounce from witty to clichéd in milliseconds. Screenwriter Victor Levin prefers the all around happy endings and beefs up the fantastical aspects too much. A lot of Pete and Rosalee’s dialogue seems obviously scripted and two of the film’s biggest names, Nathan Lane (“Birdcage”) and Sean Hayes (TV’s “Will and Grace”) find themselves stuck in campy bit-parts that rely way too much on over-the-top physical comedy. Nathan Lane’s talent almost seems wasted.
Speaking of the three main characters, Levin declared, “In many instances they beat the page.” And he is correct. Bosworth, Grace and Duhamel all have a certain vibe when together on screen that makes the movie work beyond the written level, something that has a lot to do with Luketic’s mastery of the medium. A few overdone jokes even scrape up some new laughs simply by Grace’s facial expressions or Luketic’s attention to detail. He is continually reminding his audience that the film is a fantasy and should revel in certain unrealistic traits. One cinematic aspect Luketic controls with ease and efficiency is an accelerated pace that never drags the viewer behind. The film never forgets that romantic comedies are about simply having fun. Sometimes this works and other times it is a serious detriment.
Where this works the best is the character of Rosalee’s father, Henry Futch (Gary Cole, “Office Space”). Cole’s character is overexcited for his daughter’s new suitor. He reads Variety and dons a “Project Greenlight” t-shirt in order to impress the star. Cole is a veteran actor and luckily lands the tightest written character in the film. He also grabs the best line, when what could have been the usual pre-climax teenie-drama pep talk turns into an uproarious speech reminding Pete that, “sometimes Goliath kicks the shit out of David.”
“Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!” is a bumpy ride of the tried-and-true fighting against a director’s ambition that manages to follow the straight-and-narrow and still come out for the most part intact.
