You May Not Want to "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton"

The 2004 romantic comedy, "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton," promises more than your average fluff film, but doesn't deliver. In "Win a Date," Kate Bosworth plays Rosalee, a wholesome Midwestern girl who wins a date with her favorite movie star, Tad Hamilton. The two start to fall in love, much to the dismay of Rosalee’s best guy friend, Pete (Topher Grace), who also loves her. Through this premise, the writers suggest the themes of chastity, redemption, love, and the importance of high moral character -- without ever exploring any of them.

Pete repeatedly tells Rosalee to "guard [her] carnal treasure" while on the date with Tad. The filmmakers point out throughout the story that Rosalee makes out with Tad, but doesn't sleep with him. On their first date, she consents to go back to his place, but asks to be taken home when she finds out they're alone. In an earlier time, these attitudes and behaviors were expected, however, at a time when few people "guard their carnal treasure," or consider it as a "treasure" worth guarding, a strong theme of sexual restraint needs to be explained or at least discussed. Additionally, Tad claims that he wants to be with Rosalee because he's been living shallowly. He says that she knows what's important in life -- but the characters never expand on the what the important things in life are, or how to get them. This makes the film almost worse than your typical shallow rom-com just because it hints at something deeper without ever truly going there.

Besides recognizing there is value in virtue and virginity, this film also presents a realistic perspective on love. After only knowing her one or two weeks, Tad tells Rosalee that he loves her, but instead of running off with him, she tells him that that's impossible. "You can't love me," she says. "You hardly even know me." This is refreshing considering the amount of films that glorify the idea of falling in love and sometimes permanently committing to someone in just a few days' time -- "The Wedding Planner" and "Made of Honor" among them.

In addition to these flyby references to bigger themes, another issue with "Win A Date" is the fact that the main character makes few of her own decisions until the climax -- thus making much of the film unearned. Tad decides to date Rosalee, Tad decides to move to her hometown, Tad decides to ask her to stay with him on his shoot. The only real decisions she makes are the following: to be with Tad on set, and then later, not to be. Until this point, however, she mostly floats along in the current. Though Rosalee’s girlish excitement over a movie star is endearing, her conversations with her friend (played by Ginnifer Goodwin) are less so. The real humor lies in the interaction between the boys -- store-manager Pete and movie-star Tad. Jealous Pete first challenges Tad to a farmhand contest (and loses, lovably), then confronts him while he's on the toilet, telling him that if he breaks Rosalee's heart, Pete will rip Tad apart with his "bare hands -- or vicious rhetoric." The boys are much cleverer with each other than the girls are -- they are what make this film amusing. For a fluffy romantic comedy, "Win A Date" is mediocre. Just don't get your hopes up when a substantial topic actually comes up.