My Date with Drew (2004)

"If you don't take risks, you'll have a wasted soul." - Drew Barrymore. Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on ... See full summary »

Directors:

Jon Gunn, Brian Herzlinger,

Stars:

Drew Barrymore, John August, Stephanie Bedell

12 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Drew Barrymore	...	Herself
John August	...	Himself
Stephanie Bedell	...	Herself
Allison Burnett	...	Himself
Bill D'Elia	...	Himself
Kerry David	...	Herself
Sonya Dakar	...	Herself
George DelHoyo	...	Himself - Voice Trailer Guy
Dylan	...	Himself - Limo Driver
Corey Feldman	...	Himself
Ross Forooghi	...	Himself
Jon Gunn	...	Himself
Lisa Furst	...	Herself (as Lisa Gunn)
Lauren Hays	...	Herself
Brian Herzlinger	...	Himself

Storyline

"If you don't take risks, you'll have a wasted soul." - Drew Barrymore. Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Now, 20 years later he's decided to try to fulfill his lifelong dream by asking her for a date. There's one small problem: She's Drew Barrymore and he's, well, Brian Herzlinger, a broke 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker from New Jersey. But that doesn't stop Brian and his film school pals from doing everything they can think of to convince Barrymore to go out with him - and documenting their quest along the way. Equipped with a video camera they have to return to Circuit City in 30 days and the $1,100 Brian won on a game show (where the winning answer was, prophetically, "Drew Barrymore"), they've got one month to accomplish their mission. To succeed, they'll need to negotiate an army of publicists, agents, producers and assistants who surround the star so Brian can pop the question. My ...

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Plot Keywords:

date | crush | video camera | four word title | personal quest | 

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Taglines:

30 days, $1100, For an Ordinary Guy to Get a Date with Drew Barrymore

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild thematic elements and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 2005 (Norway)

Also Known As:

Dating Drew

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,100 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$32,562 (Hong Kong) (16 June 2006)

Gross:

$32,562 (Hong Kong) (16 June 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lucky Crow Films, Rusty Bear Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After the film was promoted with a disastrous internet spamming campaign that became increasingly abusive, the film has been cited by the authors of The Guerrila Filmmaker's Handbook as a textbook case of how not to launch a no-budget internet marketing campaign.

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Quotes

Brian Herzlinger: [refering to a sign with a Drew Barrymore Quote over the reception desk at E! Entertainment] If this was this was a risk I was suppose to take, then why did I feel like I was wasting my soul? I needed something to reassure me I was doing the right thing. You know, like a sign. And then as I was walking up to the reception desk... can you believe it? Right in front of me was a sign! I mean literally, it was... a sign!

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Connections

References The Goonies (1985)

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Soundtracks

"Holding Out For a Hero"
Performed by Bonnie Tyler
Composed by Dean Pitchford, Jim Steinman
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

My Date with Drew

Even casting aside memories of the infamous summer of 2005, (during which the Internet Movie Database's Film General message board was overrun for months by the director's friends relentlessly hawking this documentary - and getting extremely unpleasant when challenged about their behaviour, trolling the board - in a monumentally misguided attempt at viral marketing that ensured everyone who encountered them waited for it to arrive on television rather than pay to see it) this film is impossible to like.

Much of that stems from the unlikable Brian Herzlinger, a man with no personality to speak of. He's a poor enough actor to betray the fact that at times he's clearly reading scripted material or improvising imaginary see-I-got-you-back phone conversations with an ex girlfriend who cheated on him. And that's not even his most pathetic moment.

Every attempt is made to enliven the concept but because it simply doesn't lend itself to a feature length film these attempts are doomed to failure, even if they weren't so hopelessly amateurish and inappropriate. They frequently employ six degrees of separation graphics as if they expect the audience to care that some guy's friend is a friend of some other guy's agent who knows someone who once worked with Barrymore. This kind of information is often presented in dramatic freeze frames as if to underline how important it is.

Presumably resulting from a dearth of imagination and creativity we're left with seemingly never-ending footage of Herzlinger approaching teenage girls outside malls and telling them what the film's about. "Oh, cool" they respond unenthusiastically - and this footage made the final cut! Next we see him unsuccessfully stopping people in the street and asking them to take part in "A survey about Drew Barrymore." It continues like this until the final scene, which I won't spoil. Things get mildly interesting (and decidedly awkward) for a few minutes and then - thankfully - it's over.