Before I begin this review there is one movie I’m hoping to see this year that is playing at Sundance: Super Size Me. Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock documented his experiment of eating nothing but food off the menu of McDonald’s for 30 days! And I thought this project was a test of endurance!
KKSM General Manager Meg Banta hooked me up with a ticket to a special screening of Win a Date with Tad Hamilton playing at the Edwards Mira Mesa Stadium 18 in Mira Mesa. It was a bit out of my way but what the hey, a free movie and a chance to write about a movie theatre that I haven’t been to.
The Edwards in Mira Mesa is almost the same as the Edwards near CSUSM and Palomar College campuses. But this is one is huge! I almost got lost in this theatre trying to look for the screening of the film. But this still doesn’t beat a 21 screen movie theatre that I’ve been to where I did get lost on the way out, in fact I got so lost I just went into whatever auditorium was near and caught another film.
Special screenings are either good or bad. The only downside to special screenings is that they’re always overbooked which means sometimes you’ll never get in, this is mostly the case with screenings put on by radio stations and other contests. But there are good things about special screenings like if the movie sucks you don’t have to complain because it was free and if the movie is good then you have bragging rights.
After wandering around aimlessly in the halls of the Mira Mesa Edwards I finally arrived at the auditorium for the special screening. The place was packed and I had to settle for a seat in the front, and by front I don’t mean the first row of elevated stadium seats I mean the front as in craning my neck to see the screen. Thankfully I have my back pain patch or else I would have been moaning like I was in labor.
When I saw the trailer for Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and saw the poster for the film for some reason I thought this film was set in the 1950’s and was somewhat of a remake of Bye Bye Birdie. I was surprised that the film wasn’t. I guess the main reason why I thought it was set back in the 1950’s was the fact that the Piggly Wiggly is the setting for this film. I have always associated the Piggly Wiggly with the 50’s and also the fact that we don’t have any Piggly Wiggly in California. For some of my Southern friends who visit they always want to visit the Waffle House or Winn-Dixie, and they’re shocked when they find we don’t have any in So Cal.
The premise of the film is similar to that of Bye Bye Birdie. Tad Hamilton has landed himself on the cover of the tabloids and needs a way to save face. His agents (both named Richard Levey?!) concoct a contest where a fan of Tad’s will win a date with him. The winner of the contest is Rosalee (played by Kate Bosworth) who works at the Piggly Wiggly in the perfect all American small town USA. Her manager/best Pete (Topher Grace) secretly has a crush on Rosalee and isn’t all that excited when Tad falls in love with Rosalee and decides to move into town.