Published on www.newyorkcool.com
Brian Herzlinger, Brett Winn, Jon Gunn's
My Date with Drew
Opening in select theaters August 5, 2005
Reviewed by Christina M. Hinke
New York Cool
July 2005
Working the six-degrees-of-separation theory helps an ordinary guy get a date with Drew Barrymore in Brian Herzlinger’s comedic documentary My Date with Drew. After winning $1,100 on a game show pilot, twenty-seven-year-old Brian buys a digital video camera at Circuit City (where he can return it in 30 days) and makes a film of his quest to date Drew. With the help of two film school buddies, Brett Winn and Jon Gunn, he canoodles his way into the hearts of people surrounding Drew. Now we’re not talking Cameron Diaz, but we are talking about people like Eric Roberts and Corey Feldman.
The film is heartfelt in its depiction of Brian’s quest to fulfill his dream to meet his life-long crush, Drew, and of his quest to fulfill his other dream – to make a film. With no job and bills piling high, he risks bad credit for his aspiration. He shows the audience what an unconfident, dirty T-shirt wearing, unshaven, desperately-needing-a-haircut type of guy he is, and one wonders how he is ever going to have a chance with Drew Barrymore. But it’s his self-deprecating, easy-going, fun-loving spirit that actually might attract her. This is a guy who sings along to cheesy songs on the car radio and to the Muzak on voice mail. Of course she’d get him; she can be just as corny. But we’ll see.
The film quality is grainy, with muted colors and at times the camera cuts off tops of heads and pans rooms resulting in a nauseating effect. But with a budget of $1,100, $75 of which was it wasted paying a psychic for love advice, one can’t expect Spielberg. But hey, it beat out Garden State and Super Size Me by winning the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 2004 HBO Comedy Arts Festival.
In the end Brian is not the ordinary guy he proclaims to be. He has a film, a web site and a ton of publicity, so his chances of meeting Drew are higher then if he didn’t have these things. The film is certainly a joyride about a search for a dream; and to quote Drew Barrymore herself, “If you don’t take risks, you’ll have a wasted soul.”
My Date with Drew was produced by Kerry David and is rated PG.
© Copyright Christina M. Hinke 2005. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
