The Perfect Date is a totally predictable and cliche romcom but hey, it is mildly entertaining.
The new Netflix feature tells a story that is all too familiar. The protagonist comes from a poor neighborhood and lives alone with his father after his mum left the pair of them to start a new family. Now, Brooks Rattigan (Noah Centinio) is desperate to become something more. He wants to date the most popular girl in school, drive a sports car and most importantly, he wants to get into Yale.
Similarly to Mean Girls 2 and 10 Things I Hate About You, Brooks starts out being paid to take a “weird” girl on a date. The only difference is that she is aware her parents have paid a guy to take her to a school dance and doesn’t actually seem to care that much. She is sarcastic and feisty and not what the mildly sexist Brooks expects, who explicitly says that all girls just want a knight in shining armor.
As the story unfolds, Brooks ends up creating an app with his friend to take girls on dates so that he can make money to go to Yale. Throughout the film, the characters are all caught up in their own pretenses apart from the generic gay best friend, who is the only genuine character in the whole thing. Obviously, Brooks ends up sidelining him only to learn last minute that his friendships are more important than the fantasies he has got caught up in.
There was nothing original about The Perfect Date whatsoever and we saw the ending coming a mile off. Nonetheless, we found it mildly entertaining and if a trashy high school movie is your cup of tea, you probably won’t be too disappointed. As predictable and pretentious as they were, the characters were likable enough and the message was wholesome and uplifting. That’s about the only positive things we can say about the feature though.
2/5
