Gross humour

If the Big Fat Greek Wedding was any inspiration for Date Movie, it is indeed a big fat insult to that comedy, writes Ervell E. Menezes

Dating seems to be a popular subject for Hollywood these days. Hitch, with Will Smith doing the honours as a sort of Date Doctor, was an enjoyable comedy. But not Date Movie, which is pathetic to start with, and what’s worse, it never even hints at getting better.

Is American humour so gross? In Meet the Fockers the swear word is conveniently disguised by changing just one letter. Here the hero is a very British male named Grant Funkyerdoder. Can’t they find any other gags to evoke laughter? Most of the humour is aimed below the belt, anything but subtle, no innuendos, so at times it gets so sick you just get mad.

The synopses screams "the twisted minds of two of the six writers of Scary Movie—Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg—skewer the romantic genre in Date Movie, a film for people who love date movies and people who hate them." It means nothing. As for the adjective ‘twisted’, it should be replaced with "warped."

So you have this fat, ugly waitress Julia (Alyson Hannigan), dreaming of Prince Charming coming to rescue her from eternal spinsterhood. Does she try and slim? Well, director Aaron Seltzer deals with that. But if the Big Fat Greek Wedding was any inspiration for this film, it is indeed a big fat insult to that comedy.

That Julia’s dad is African (Judah Friedlander) and mother Indian (Meera Simhan) hardly helps.

That the twisted young man Grant (Adam Campbell) vaguely resembles Jim Carrey is another minus point. As for his ex-best friend, it is one of dubious sexuality named Andy (Sophie Monk), inspired no doubt by Transamerica.

But scriptwriters Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg virtually run amok with sick humour. You have cats humping, humans with all kinds of sexual fantasies and this poor couple trying to make it to the altar.

With this plethora of characters falling over each other in a futile effort to raise laughs, one might as well buy a joke book and read it instead.

This reviewer has never been in favour of censorship, but when one is exposed to such unadulterated trash, crap (whatever word one uses, it will not be strong enough), one is inclined to think again. Don’t venture within a one-mile radius of the screening of Date Movie. That’s how sick it is.

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