More often than not commentaries and interpretations tend to direct one to think about specific ideas and messages being conveyed through a movie. Or, we are forced to consider how well a mainstream (read that “POP”) commercial release covered the seriousness of a subject while maintaining a high level of entertainment value to keep the viewers attention, often at the cost of the “message”. I find that it is rare for a film to come along that one can engage with on a level that simply makes one feel good; to experience a visceral moment of happiness. My Date with Drew is that movie.
My Date with Drew is a documentary but it plays more like a happy Blair Witch Project, i.e., a faux documentary. It is so engaging that the contract of trust is immediately signed and forgotten about. It is like sitting across from a friend who is telling you the personal story of a life-time. The experience is so interesting, you become immediately absorbed into the images in their mind and emotions expressed through their eyes. It is like listening to someone who has journeyed to the Arctic Circle or plumbed the depths of unexplored rainforests all insearch of personal growth.
The film begins as a sort of last ditch effort to do something with life and get it done before the next month’s rent check comes due. Brian (Herzlinger) wins a game-show contest amounting to a $1000.00 prize. He takes this money and decides that he will enlist some friends and use all of the money to fund a documentary project. This documentary must be shot in thirty days and will follow him through the nervous adventure of getting a date with Drew Barrymore. Brian has had a lifelong crush on Drew ever since seeing her in E.T. Although, the documentary might justifiably re-label “crush” as “obsession,” he is none-the-less determined to get a date with Drew.
It is a practice in the utilization of the six-degrees of separation theory. It is an inspirational adventure about the pursuit of dreams, celebrity worship, perseverance, stalking, networking, and the unintentional but beautiful comparison between life’s objective and subjective realities. Most importantly, the power of the story exists in the journey. It does not matter where one ends up, what matters is that the adventure was pursued, which for a brief moment allows Brian to experience the fullness of life. This movie is simply engaging in one of the most inexplicable ways.
The first few days of January put us smack in the middle of the deluge of year-end favorites, top 10 lists of all sorts, and discussions of the “bests” of the year. This is probably my single best experience with any film and warrants me to select it as my top DVD experience of 2009, possibly of all time, at least on an “I can’t stop smiling” level.
My Date with Drew became my date with happiness. Never will a smile on your face give you so much to think about.
