What Is It?
Brian Herzlinger has harbored a crush on Drew Barrymore since he and she were both 8 years old. She was in E.T. and he watched E.T..
Now he has just won $1100 on a game show (the winning answer: Drew Barrymore) so Brian and his friends (like Jon Gun, the movie maker responsible for Mercy Streets) take advantage of Circuit City’s 30 day return policy. (Circuit City claims that the change in their return policy coinciding with the release of this movie is just a coincidence.) So with their expensive video camera they set out to use Brian’s winnings to get a dinner with his dream girl, and document it in 30 days. (On Jay Leno, Brian revealed that Drew was in the movie, so it's not just a tease, but he did not tell us how it ended up, nor will I.)
How Was It?
Very funny. It's a bit "reality TV" but with alot more reality and less TV. You get the feeling of hanging out with some wacky friends with a fun sense of humor who are deciding they are going to pull off a big stunt. They also do fun things like find a Drew look-alike so Brian can have a "Practice Date" in case the real one works out. They interview Hollywood types and Barrymore relatives trying to get pointers and connections to Drew. This is fun. It's neat to watch Jon try to act nonchalant as he says to his cell phone, "Ya, you can give [the phone] to Corey Feldman" (of "The Goonies"). If you have seen Mercy Streets (which you should) you will notice right off that Jon Gun's wife played "Sunny" and be impressed with the appearance of Eric Roberts who played Rome.
Is It Good For Kids?
His "date" is just dinner. He is not interested in a relationship, though news of her engagement does make the chance of "just dinner" even slimmer. Still the concept and the constant movie references may not hold the interest of small children. There are also a couple of unpleasant words.
www.ScreenIt.com did not do a break down of this movie, but there really isn't anything else besides what is mentioned here.
How about Spiritual Issues?
There are not alot of them.
There is talk of "Signs" and Providence. There is the idea's of following your dreams, but all in all this is a pretty silly "dream".
The part that concerns the spiritual is when they lose all their leads. Deciding that they might as well try "everything" they go to a fortune teller. This is presented as a joke: ha ha look how desperate we are. Upon being invited in for his reading, Brian comments that this place told him that he would be with his ex-girlfriend forever. So it is not shown as a "real" thing but it is shown as something fun and funny to do. "Playing" with things like this is not a safe position to take. (spoiler) The other problem with this scene is that the fortune teller’s prediction ultimately is very correct, thus giving a sideways credence to the practice.
There is also an issue of deception when (spoiler) they, very impressively, sneak into an after party for “Charlie's Angels 2” using fake press passes.
Finally there are the issues surrounding the films and personalities they keep parading out. Though I think it's a smaller issue, the messages and examples these films and the ones the celebrities put forth should be considered.
What Is Your Recommendation?
I have a hard time with this one. It's a fun time at the movies, a great silly film, but the fortune teller scene makes me very apprehensive of going with my desire to tell everyone to find this film (we found it at The Loop in Methuen, Mass.) and go see it. It is now available at Blockbuster and can be pre-ordered at their web page.
