It’s a Date (2018)
(On Cable TV, October 2021) It would be far too easy to criticize It’s a Date: At barely 68 minutes, this romantic comedy feels undercooked with a thin, familiar plot extended past an hour by extraneous “bad dates” and “too-demanding clients” montages best seen in other movies. The bare-bones plot revolves around the owner of a dating service who refuses to date an attractive client while dealing with her no-good idea-stealing ex-husband. Not quite having enough plot, the script goes on tangents, follows supporting characters without much conviction and throws in a cheap joke about metrosexuality when it’s looking for more padding material. The low-budget production values of the film are obvious in the humdrum direction, repetitive cinematography, obvious sound editing issues (with buzzes and blanks succeeding each other in a lack of polish rarely seen on TV broadcasts) and cheap sets tightly shot. Tammy Townsend is fine in the lead role, although it’s unfair to her when K. D. Aubert walks in the film and steals most glances, or when Jontille Gerard outdoes her on sheer likability. Meanwhile, Darrin Dewitt Henson is not bad in the romantic lead even if his role is to be puppeteered according to the needs of the script. Probably put together on a shoestring budget by director Grayson Stroud, the film benefits from Los Angeles stock footage to expand on the very small number of sets. But here’s the thing: It may be a bad movie, but I’m not really in a mood to criticize It’s a Date all that much. It’s basic and straightforward, but it’s easy to watch, and there’s something interesting in the script’s blend of romance and business drama that probably could have worked even better with a bigger budget. It’s the kind of romantic comedy that’s easy to like even when it’s flawed and clunky, and even its short length can be seen as an asset when it wraps up so quickly and leaves us before overstaying its welcome. It’s a small success of good intentions over lavish means, and the nature of its genre means that it ends with a smile despite an in-your-face final scene. (Amusingly, the poster spoils what’s probably the script’s most surprising plot development.)