''20 Dates'' is a 1998 American
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
film.
Myles Berkowitz directs and stars as himself, a man who decides to combine "the two biggest failures in my life--professional and personal" by setting out on a filmed quest to have 20 dates and come out with both a movie career and a love interest. While most of his dates are disasters of varying stripes, Myles ultimately meets the lovely Elisabeth on his 17th date and they completely hit it off, leaving him with a new dilemma when he wants to finish the movie anyway and puts his new romance at risk.
Cast
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Myles Berkowitz as Myles
* Elisabeth Wagner as Elisabeth
*
Richard Arlook as The Agent
*
Tia Carrere
Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo (born January 2, 1967), known professionally as Tia Carrere (), is an American actress and singer who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera ''General Hospital''.
Carrere played Cassandra Wong i ...
as herself
*
Robert McKee
Robert McKee (born January 30, 1941) is an author, lecturer and story consultant who is known for his "Story Seminar", which he developed when he was a professor at the University of Southern California. McKee also has the blog and online wri ...
as himself
*
Elie Samaha
Elie Samaha (Arabic language, Arabic: إيلي سماحة) is a film producer in Los Angeles, with production credits beginning with ''The Immortals (1995 film), The Immortals'' in 1995. He has produced over 83 works, primarily films along with ...
as The producer (voice)
*
Emily Arlook as Emily
Release and reception
After screening at the 1998
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
, it was picked up by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
's indie division
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...
. An early version of the film had previously screened at the 1997 Slamdance Film Festival. It received mixed reviews from critics.
Film critic Christopher Null of Filmcritic.com awarded the film four and a half stars out of five and called the film "hysterical" while Leonard Clady of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called it "a mockumentary of inordinate skill", concluding that it's "a satisfying and entertaining movie."
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on ...
of ReelViews.net called the film "inconsequential" but, at the same time, admitted that some parts of the film are "often hilarious."
On the other hand, film critic
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
of ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' awarded the film a half star out of a possible four stars, opining that "the film has the obnoxious tone of a boring home movie narrated by a guy shouting in your ear" and concluding by calling the film "incompetent and annoying." Jeff Millar of the ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...
'' said the film is "a joke" and that "Berkowitz is a rather annoying person".
[Millar, Jeff]
20 Dates
March 11, 2004. Accessed November 7, 2008.
See also
*
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, primarily associated with major film studios collectively referred to as Hollywood, has significantly influenced the global film industry since the early 20th century.
Classical Hollywood cinema, a filmma ...
*
List of American films of 1998
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:20 Dates
1998 films
American mockumentary films
1990s mockumentary films
Fox Searchlight Pictures films
1998 comedy films
1999 comedy films
1999 films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films