Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)

★★★
Robert Luketic, the director of Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, knows exactly what makes Kate Bosworth so endearing. She has a lovely smile. Here, Bosworth doesn't shy away from smiling, which is one of the reasons why I liked this movie. Oh, don't get me wrong. The script has some real humor in it, the performances are charming without being sickly cute, and I liked how the character of Tad Hamilton was presented. By 2004, Bosworth was receiving a steady stream of work. Her supporting role in The Rules of Attraction was small, but she captured our attention the moment she appeared on the screen. She demonstrated in Blue Crush that she could hold her own as a romantic lead, which she does to perfection here.

Tad Hamilton (Josh Duhamel) is a young Hollywood star with a bad boy image. His agent Richard Levy (Nathane Lane) and manager Richard Levy (Sean Hayes) come up with the idea of a "Win a Date" contest to clean up his reputation. The fact that his agent and manager have the same name is the movie's least successful and most negligible joke. All the way in a small West Virginia town, Rosalee Futch (Bosworth) is a big fan of the hottest actor in movies. She enters said contest, figuring her chances of being selected are slim to none. Her doubt changes to excitement when she is the one selected for a date with Tad Hamilton.

Rosalee boards a plane bound for Los Angeles. She gets a limo ride and an expensive hotel room. That evening, she meets with Tad. To her delight, he's not a stuck-up actor concerned with his next paycheck. He's a smart guy who realizes that he lacks serious direction in his life. They spend a perfect evening together, but like all fairy tales, it must come to an end. The next day, she's back in her home in West Virginia, working her job as a clerk in a Piggly Wiggly supermarket. Her manager Pete (Topher Grace) is secretly in love with her, so he wasn't too thrilled when Rosalee won the contest.

Tad's date had a bigger impact on him than he originally thought. Her small-town life is exactly what he needs to get away from the hustle and bustle of the movie industry, so he pays Rosalee a surprise visit. The visit turns into something permanent when Tad buys a farm and starts dating Rosalee. This complicates Pete's plan. He's been planning on telling her how he feels, but he doubts he can compete with a movie star. Tad grows accustomed to the town. The locals recognize the actor. They're often seen pointing at him and whispering with wide-eyed smiles.

The movie becomes a tug-of-war between Tad and Pete, with Rosalee in between. They're both vying for her affection. We would expect Tad to be extremely mean-spirited towards Pete, deceiving his way into Rosalee's heart. To my amazement, that didn't happen. Tad remains tactful in his efforts. Only once does he tell a lie, but it was a spur-of-the-moment situation, with him not thinking about what he was saying. He found someone so much to his liking that any possibility of rejection would be a blow to his feelings rather than his ego. When Rosalee discovers his white lie, he's very honest about what he did. He doesn't deny any wrongdoing on his part.

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! is good-natured fun. Kate Bosworth is thoroughly charming in the lead role, while Josh Duhamel surprises by playing Tad Hamilton as a grounded young man. Credit screenwriter Victor Levin with going against expectations. There are lots of things to praise about this movie, but as I have made clear, Kate Bosworth carries the whole project. She makes it as good as it is—so much so that, if there was a "Win a Date with Kate Bosworth" contest, I would enter it.

© 2004 Silver Screen Reviews