Reel Snippet – The Perfect Date
Summary: Brooks Rattigan (Noah Centineo) is working hard to get into Yale, but he has two big roadblocks: he’s done absolutely nothing noteworthy and he doesn’t have the money. After the school jock hires Brooks to be his odd cousin Celia’s (Laura Marano) date to her school formal, he and his tech-minded best friend Murph (Odiseas Georgiadis) come up with a brilliant plan to raise some money: design an app that lets young women hire him and design him to be their perfect date. This business takes off spectacularly and Celia even forms a friendship with Brooks, helping him get close to his crush, Shelby (Camila Mendes). However, Brooks gets deeper and deeper into his business and starts hurting his friends and loved ones, which means he’s going to have to do some soul searching to see if this path is what he really wants.
Review: The Perfect Date is a cute, if predictable movie. Seriously, if you’ve seen any romantic comedy, you’ll probably see things coming a mile away. Still, that doesn’t mean it isn’t charming — my favorite tube-grown everyman Noah Centineo is a likable enough lead and Laura Marano nails being the quirky outsider. It’s a good movie if you’re into this stuff and have some time to kill.
It’s kind of surprising how many actors I recognize from other TV shows, such as Brooks’ dad (Matt Walsh) being played by Detective Lohank from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Shelby is Riverdale’s Veronica, and Celia’s dad (Joe Chrest) coming straight from Netflix’s biggest cash cow, Stranger Things, where he played Mr. Wheeler. In fact, what with a Stranger Things actor and Noah Centineo appearing in a movie where the lead character has to stand out to be considered for college, this movie reminds me of Sierra Burgess is a Loser, though Brooks doesn’t do anything nearly as scummy as catfishing his love interest. I’m starting to wonder if Netflix is starting to develop a formula in their movies. Again, only time will tell.
Fun Tidbit: Laura Marano’s claim to fame is starring in a Disney Channel sitcom Austin & Ally. Her costar, Noah himself, appeared in three episodes of that show.
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