It's hard to care whether it's Tad or Pete who wins Rosalee's heart, and Luketic's direction is merely functional. As for Rosalee, with her straight golden tresses, blinding smile and epic cheekbones, she'd surely have already gotten a toothpaste-commercial gig, if not the lead role in a surfer-chick movie. Rosalee and her friends may wear Piggly Wiggly uniforms, but they look more like workers at a Santa Monica Starbucks: Cathy has magenta stripes in her hair, and Pete sports a gel-spiked 'do.
#TAD HAMILTON MOVIE#
Indeed, the movie never exactly demonstrates that the rivals come from different worlds. After all, Tad's assumption that Rosalee will follow him to the set of his latest movie isn't any more arrogant than Pete's hope that a woman he's never dated will move to Richmond with him. As the romantic tournament culminates, Tad doesn't seem so bad, and Pete doesn't seem that great.
Rosalee is 22, but "Tad Hamilton!" is basically a high-school morality tale, posing that genre's classic dilemma: How will the nice girl/guy come to realize that she/he belongs with the sweet, sincere guy/girl and not with the glamorous but shallow quarterback/cheerleader? If screenwriter Victor Levin's solution to the problem is unsatisfying, it's because he barely distinguishes Tad and Pete - aside, that is, from the former's brawnier torso.
And Pete's hopes of persuading Rosalee to accompany him to the big city - that would be Richmond - begin to evaporate. To the tune of Liz Phair's "Why Can't I?," the Piggly Wiggly erupts. Seeking to "reset my priorities," Tad follows Rosalee back to her home town. At dinner, he finds her charming after a few hours, he decides that her simple, sincere worldview is inspirational. (Distraught that his true love is about to meet her dream man, Pete creepily counsels her to "guard your carnal treasure.'') Tad is uninterested in the date, until he notices that Rosalee - although tongue-tied and queasy - is a looker. With a minimum of explanation, Rosalee enters and wins the contest, and is on her way from Fraziers Bottom, W.Va., to Hollywood. They propose the win-a-date contest - to benefit a charity, of course - as a way to improve his image. His manager and agent (Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes in lazily stereotypical roles) are worried that the bad-boy actor's carousing will cost him an important new role. Yeah, and Elijah Wood is really a hobbit. He's there not because he likes Tad, but because he loves Rosalee.ĭiscussing Tad's latest turn as a romantic leading man, Rosalee and Cathy assume that he's just like the characters he plays. (Weeks ago, when I received an "autographed" promo photo of a shirtless "Tad," my first guess was not that he was straight.) At a showing of Tad's latest flick, Rosalee and Cathy are joined by their friend and Piggly Wiggly co-worker Pete ("That '70's Show's" Topher Grace). On screen, the small-town gals' favorite actor appears to be a cross between pre-nuptials Brad Pitt and, uh, Rock Hudson. (What? Britney Spears got married? Who told you that?) Lifetime best pals Rosalee ("Blue Crush" star Kate Bosworth) and Cathy ("Mona Lisa Smile" fifth banana Ginnifer Goodwin) are devotees of Hollywood hunk Tad Hamilton ("Las Vegas" denizen Josh Duhamel). This amiable romantic comedy supposes an America in which innocent fans still revere airbrushed matinee idols, and misbehaving stars can conceal their antics from TV, tabloid and Internet gossips. But then somebody goofed and forgot to rent the time machine.ĭirector Robert ("Legally Blonde'') Luketic's second feature seems to be set in 2004, but a crucial part of its premise - not unlike the name "Tad" - would only make sense 50 years earlier. THE MAKERS of "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!" recruited a congenial cast, assembled a lively soundtrack and devised an adequate scenario.
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