Blind Date English MovieTheatrical Release 9/25/2009
Cast: Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Thijs Romer
Director: Stanley Tucci
Genres: Comedy Drama, Marriage Drama
Running Time: 80 mins.
Country Of Origin: United States
Reviews
An estranged couple is desperately trying to reconcile after the tragic death of their daughter. Unable to face either their grief or each other, they go on a series of "blind dates", each placing personal ads in the paper and pretending to be strangers when they meet. They do this over and over again, playing a series of different roles, in an attempt to overcome the pain and rebuild their shattered relationship.
A married couple has suffered a tragedy and now the only way they can now relate to each other is by meeting as different characters through a series of personal ads. A remake of the original work by the late Dutch director Theo van Gogh.
In Blind Date, Walter Davis goes on an arranged night-out that starts off well but turns very, very ugly when alcohol gets into the mix. Don’t worry though, this is a romantic comedy so you should be able to turn off your brain and watch the silliness unfold until you get to the happy ending. However, should you accidentally leave your brain in gear, you may not be able to wait for the ending.Between 1985 and 1989, Bruce Willis was known to millions of television viewers as David Addison on the popular television series Moonlighting. Mid-way through the series and at the height of its popularity, Willis made his big-screen debut as Walter Davis in this lightweight romantic comedy. The movie has plenty of star power, starting with producer/ director Blake Edwards (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the Pink Panther franchise, and 10), who cast Willis alongside one-time Bond Girl Kim Bassinger (Never Say Never Again), and Willis’ fellow television stars John Larroquette (Night Court), William Daniels (St. Elsewhere), and Phil Hartman (Saturday Night Live).
The premise of Blind Date is embarrassing. Walter agrees to be set up on a blind date with Nadia (Bassinger) only because he needs a "wife" for an important corporate dinner. Before they go to the dinner, Walter gets Nadia drunk although he has been warned not to let her drink and she even refuses at first. Hey, Walter! Ever heard of alcoholism? Adding insult to injury is Bassinger’s remarkably amateurish performance as a drunken person (Willis does much better when Walter gets drunk). At the dinner, the guest of honour is a "very traditional" Japanese businessman, complete with misogynist values, a Geisha wife, and no sense of humour. As if this stereotype wasn’t ugly enough, Nadia imposes good old American values on the visitors, advising the wife to find a good divorce lawyer. The evening goes from bad to worse when the couple is pursued by Nadia’s obsessed ex-boyfriend, (John Larroquette – who cannot overcome his television softie persona to appear physically threatening, and instead resembles a persistent mosquito). After the date from hell, Walter is bailed out of jail and then proceeds to turn the last part of the film into a disrupt-the-wedding movie. How is it disrupted? With alcohol, of course.
Blind Date is Edwards’ answer to two other 1980s crazy-night-out movies: Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (1985) and Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild (1986). After Hours succeeds because the characters in that urban landscape have a nightmarishly surreal quality; Something Wild succeeds because its characters are so human. Both films are cult favourites and can survive outside the timeframe of the 1980s. Blind Date, on the other hand, is a sex farce with flat characters trapped within ‘80s sensibilities (corporate ladder-climbing, cars as status symbols, and glittery dance clubs). It is unclear as to why Columbia Tri-Star felt the need to release this substandard film on DVD. After all, VHS degrades so much quicker.
