Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)

A small-town girl wins a date with a male celebrity through a contest. When the date goes better than expected, a love triangle forms between the girl, the male celebrity, and the girl's best friend.

Director:

Robert Luketic

Writer:

Victor Levin

Stars:

Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, Josh Duhamel

8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kate Bosworth	...	Rosalee Futch
Topher Grace	...	Pete Monash
Josh Duhamel	...	Tad Hamilton
Nathan Lane	...	Richard Levy the Driven
Sean Hayes	...	Richard Levy the Shameless
Gary Cole	...	Henry Futch
Ginnifer Goodwin	...	Cathy Feely
Kathryn Hahn	...	Angelica
Octavia Spencer	...	Janine
Amy Smart	...	Nurse Betty
Ren Trostle	...	Porsche Woman
Wendy Worthington	...	Customer
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	George Ruddy
Moon Bloodgood	...	Gorgeous Woman
Mary Jo Smith	...	Sonja

Storyline

Rosalee Futch is a grocery clerk living in rural West Virginia. But even a small-town girl can have big dreams, and Rosalee's is to someday--somehow--meet her big-screen idol Tad Hamilton. The somehow arrives in the form of a contest--the grand prize: a date with Tad Hamilton--and the someday is now. Rosalee wins, much to the chagrin of her best friend and co-worker Pete, who is deeply, hopelessly--and secretly--in love with Rosalee. The Win a Date contest was cooked up by Tad's agent, Richard Levy, and his manager, also named Richard Levy, to clean up Tad's bad-boy image. Someone should have told them to be careful what you wish for. When Tad meets Rosalee and gets a taste of what he's been missing in the real world, he decides he wants seconds and moves to West Virginia, turning Rosalee's dream come true into a nightmare for Richard Levy, Richard Levy and, most of all, Pete.

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Plot Keywords:

date | west virginia | contest | best friend | hollywood | 

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Taglines:

In every love story, there's only room for one leading man.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, some drug references and language

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 January 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Total verknallt in Tad Hamilton

Filming Locations:

Charleston, West Virginia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$24,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$153,242 (South Africa) (4 June 2004)

Gross:

$362,085 (South Africa) (18 June 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks SKG, Red Wagon Entertainment, The Lot

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene near the beginning of the movie, where the camera switches back and forth from Tad to Pete, Pete eventually sits down to dinner with a book. The book is titled 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', which is a short story written by Flannery O'Connor, a prominent Catholic author who lived in the Protestant-dominant south in a small town probably similar to that of Rosalee and Pete's small town.

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Goofs

When Tad gets a movie role, we hear Rosalee say "So you're going then?" and Tad answers "Yes," but neither character's mouths move at all.

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Quotes

Tad: Do you guys have any suites?
Hotel Clerk: Sure we got sweets. We got some lollies down here by the register, if you wanna pop on by and get yourself a lolly.

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Connections

Referenced in Psych: Shawn 2.0 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"California Sun"
Written by Jem Griffiths, Justin Griffiths & Paul Herman
Performed by Jem
Courtesy of ATO Records

User Reviews

makes up in charm what it lacks in edge

`Win a Date with Tad Hamilton' is a predictable fairy tale romance that skates by on the cleverness of its premise and the charm of its performances. Kate Bosworth stars as Rosalee Futch, a small town girl from West Virginia who has a mad crush on a hot Hollywood stud named Tad Hamilton. One day she enters a contest on the Internet, the prize being an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles to spend an evening with her dreamboat. Rosalee, of course, wins the contest and has her magic fantasy moment, whereupon she flies back home, expecting to file the experience away in her heart as the high point of her life and then continue her humdrum existence working at the local Piggly Wiggly. What Rosalee doesn't anticipate is that Tad will be so smitten with her genuine goodness and unpretentious nature that he will wind up traveling to West Virginia in order to get to know her better. Complicating matters is the fact that Rosalee's long time friend and boss, Pete, is secretly, madly in love with her and isn't about to give her up without a fight to this fancy, flashy dude from Hollywood.

Given the premise, the makers of this film could, with a bit more self-confidence, have made a keen, hard-edged satire about the role celebrity-worship plays in the lives of ordinary folks. Instead, they've opted to take a softer, less abrasive approach, settling for a more conventional love triangle that still manages to win us over despite the formulaic nature of the story. The best part about `Win a Date with Tad Hamilton' is that it doesn't turn Tad into a boorish, self-centered jerk, which would have been so easy to do. As played by Josh Duhamel, Tad is, instead, a decent, well-meaning, good-natured young man who basically just wants the same thing out of life that we all do, namely love and commitment from that one special person. Even though we know how this triangle will most likely be resolved, the film still generates a certain amount of emotional tension because we actually come to like all three of the characters who make it up. We know Rosalee can't end up with both men, but each, in his own way, appears to be a viable alternative. This spirit of equanimity is not always the case with these types of stories.

Bosworth exudes such a healthy, radiant glow that we don't question for a second why both Tad and Pete are drawn to her. Duhamel pours on the celebrity charm without becoming smarmy and unctuous in the process. And Topher Grace nicely underplays the role of Rosalee's erstwhile secret devotee who faces a rival no Ordinary Joe should ever have to go up against.

`Win a Date with Tad Hamilton' isn't as good as it might have been had it opted for a riskier, edgier tone. But it's not bad as romantic comedies go – and in these days of `Along Came Polly,' `Alex and Emma,' `Chasing Liberty' et al., that's saying quite a bit indeed.