''Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!'' is a 2004 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film directed by

Robert Luketic Robert Luketic (born 1 November 1973) is an Australian film director. His films include ''Legally Blonde'' (2001), '' Monster-in-Law'' (2005), '' 21'' (2008), '' Killers'' (2010), and '' Paranoia'' (2013). Early life Robert Luketic was born in ...

, written by Victor Levin and starring

Kate Bosworth Catherine Anne Bosworth (born January 2, 1983) is an American actress. Following minor roles in the films '' The Horse Whisperer'' (1998) and ''Remember the Titans'' (2000), she rose to prominence with her role as a young surfer in the box-offi ...

Topher Grace Christopher John Grace ( ; born July 12, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Eric Forman in the Fox sitcom ''That '70s Show'', Eddie Brock / Venom in Sam Raimi's film ''Spider-Man 3'', Pete Monash in '' Win a Date with Tad H ...

Josh Duhamel Joshua David Duhamel (; born November 14, 1972) is an American actor and former fashion model. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera '' All My Children'' and later starred as Danny M ...

Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the ...

Ginnifer Goodwin Jennifer Michelle "Ginnifer" Goodwin (born May 22, 1978) is an American actress. She is known for her starring role as Margene Heffman in the HBO drama series '' Big Love'' (2006–2011) and Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard in the ABC fa ...

, Sean Hayes and

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...

. The film follows a small-town girl (Bosworth) who wins a contest for a date with a male celebrity (Duhamel) and a

love triangle A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with ...

forms between the girl, the star and the girl's best friend (Grace). The character's name of Tad Hamilton has been seen as a cross between the names of screen idols

Tab Hunter Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018) was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of t ...

and George Hamilton. The film received mixed reviews from critics and earned $17.1 million in the United States and $4.2 million overseas for a worldwide total of $21.3 million, making it a

commercial failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One ...

against a $22 million budget.

Plot

A soldier and nurse emerge from two 1940s-style cars in the middle of the night. As the nurse runs up to the soldier, the camera switches, revealing that this is a film scene. Rosalee, Cathy, and Pete, Piggly Wiggly store workers in Fraziers Bottom, West Virginia are watching the filming, and as the nurse asks for forgiveness and the soldier agrees, the women in the audience are moved to tears as Pete is clearly unimpressed. As the ladies wonder what the film's star Tad Hamilton is doing at that moment, Tad is described by his agent as "drinking, driving, smoking, leering, and groping all at the same time." The agent tells Tad that his hedonism is damaging his reputation and career opportunities. To improve his image and convince a film director to cast him, his agents establish a competition to win a date with Tad, with proceeds benefiting the charity

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

. Rosalee finds an online advertisement for the competition. With the help of the Piggly Wiggly customers and a reluctant Pete, Cathy and Rosalee raise the $100 entrance fee as Pete tells his superior that he will leave for college in Richmond after he talks "with someone about going to Richmond with me." A news crew arrives outside Rosalee's home because she has won the date with Tad. A despondent Pete accompanies her to the airport. Awed by Los Angeles, Rosalee becomes tongue-tied in Tad's presence. The date does not go well; Rosalee vomits in the limousine, and when Tad mentions his love of animals, which Pete had warned was a signal of sexual intentions, her suspicions are raised. After seeing Tad's house, Rosalee requests to return to the hotel and soon returns home, leaving Tad thoughtful. Pete is about to tell Rosalee about moving to Richmond when she is surprised by Tad's sudden arrival. Although she is still cynical, when he admits to not having "his priorities straight," she is convinced of his good intentions. On a phone call with his agent, Tad insists that he wants to turn over a new leaf, and won't return to Los Angeles for a while. When he gathers Rosalee for a date, he leaves a positive impression on Rosalee's father, who had studied hard for the encounter. Pete tries to stop their date by reporting them for illegally parking. He tries to convince Rosalee that Tad is using her. Despite all of Pete's efforts, Rosalee and Tad grow close over the next few days. In a bar, Pete corners Tad in the men's room. After conceding that Rosalee is in love with Tad, Pete tells him that she is more than a "wholesome small town girl" but a wonderful person with "the kind of beauty a guy only sees once." He explains her six smiles that reveal her emotions. Pete makes Tad swear not to break Rosalee's heart. When Rosalee is in Tad's hotel room, his agents appear and inform him that the director has cast him in the film. Tad is overjoyed and convinces Rosalee to accompany him to Los Angeles by employing Pete's "six smiles" speech. After a rousing speech about great love by Angelica, a barmaid with a crush on him, Pete rushes to Rosalee's, confessing his love. She is confused and resolves to still travel to California with Tad. On the plane, Tad fails to identify one of Rosalee's smiles and then confesses his lie, prompting her to return home. Rosalee runs to Piggly Wiggly and to Pete's, where Angelica tells her how Pete feels and that he is going to Richmond to escape his heartbreak. Rosalee then drives furiously toward Richmond to find Pete. In a manner similar to that of the opening scene, Rosalee and Pete exit their cars and Pete asks her to dance.

Cast

as Rosalee Futch *

as Pete Monash *

as Tad Hamilton *

as Henry Futch *

as Cathy Feely * Sean Hayes as Richard Levy the Shameless *

as Richard Levy the Driven * Kathryn Hahn as Angelica *

Octavia Spencer Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Critics' Choice Awards and three Screen Actors ...

as Janine *

Amy Smart Amy Lysle Smart (born March 26, 1976) is an American actress. A native of Los Angeles, Smart began her career modelling in Italy and subsequently enrolled in acting school. Her first role in film was in director Martin Kunert's anthology horror ...

(cameo) as Nurse Betty * Ren Torstle as Porsche Woman * Wendy Worthington as Customer *

Stephen Tobolowsky Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951) is an American character actor. He is known for film roles such as insurance agent Ned Ryerson in '' Groundhog Day'' and amnesiac Sammy Jankis in '' Memento'', as well as such television characters ...

as George Ruddy * Moon Bloodgood as Gorgeous Woman * Mary Jo Smith as Sonja * Joseph Convery as Mickey (Tad's driver) *

Deena Dill Deena Dill is an American actress and television executive producer best known for her recurring roles on Nickelodeon's hit show '' iCarly'', ABC's television series ''Suburgatory'', and The CW's sci-fi series ''Star-Crossed'', as well as bein ...

as Reporter *

Bob Glouberman Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

as Rosalee's limo driver *

Jay Underwood Jay Underwood (born October 1, 1968) is an American actor and pastor. Beginning a prolific career as a teen actor in the mid-1980s, he is perhaps best known for his starring feature film roles; portraying Eric Gibb in ''The Boy Who Could Fly'', ...

as Policeman Tom *

Sam Pancake Sam Pancake (born May 10, 1964) is an American actor, improviser, writer, and comedian. He began his career with small roles in TV and film, such as ''Wings'' in 1990 and '' Pizza Man'' in 1991. Early life Sam Pancake was raised in Romney, Wes ...

as Hotel Clerk * Patrick O'Brien as Father Newell * Larry Agney as 90 Year Old Man *

Willow Bay Willow Bay (born Kristine Carlin Bay; December 28, 1963) is an American television journalist, editor, author, and former model. In 2017, she became dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism having earlier served as direct ...

as Herself * Todd Eckert as Maitre D' * David Wolrod as Roger Bodger * Jessy Moss as Herself *

Marshall Goodman Marshall Goodman (born January 31, 1971), known professionally as Ras MG (also known as MG, Field Marshall, Field, or Fields) is an American drummer, songwriter and producer. Career Sublime years: 1990–1992, 1994–1996 Goodman was the drumme ...

as Himself * Danny Weissfeld as Himself * Caleb Speir as Himself * Peter Iovino as Paparazzi * Alex Kvassay as Pilot *

Jordana Brewster Jordana Brewster (born April 26, 1980) is a Panamanian-American actress. Best known for her role as Mia Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise, she made her acting debut in an episode of ''All My Children'' in 1995 and next took on the recu ...

(''uncredited'') as Actress (deleted scene) *

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad ...

(''uncredited'') as Heather (deleted scene) *

Bonnie McKee Bonnie Leigh McKee (born January 20, 1984) is an American singer and songwriter. Her debut album, ''Trouble'', was released in 2004 under Reprise Records. After underperforming, McKee was dropped by her label and took a musical hiatus before es ...

(''uncredited'') as herself

Reception

Box office

The film opened in 2,711 venues on January 23, 2004 and earned $7,320,066 in its opening weekend, ranking third in the North American box office and second among the week's new releases. The film ultimately grossed $17,071,962 in North America and $4,206,494 internationally for a worldwide total of $21,278,456. Based on a $22 million budget, the film was a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

Critical response

''Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!'' received mixed reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film received a 53% approval rating based on 146 reviews, with an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 5.6/10. The site's consensus states: "Formulaic romantic comedy works better than it should thanks to a charming cast."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reports a score of 52 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

criticized the film, noting that Duhamel's character always seems more likeable than Grace's, and that the film spends more time building a romance between Rosalee and Tad rather than between Rosalee and Pete. Bosworth's acting was praised for holding the film together. Carla Meyer of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'' regarded the film as tonally inconsistent in its attempt to be both an old-fashioned romantic comedy and modern (albeit gentle) satire, an example being that the Cathy Feely character wonders if Hamilton is at church and later propositions him. Writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

regarded the film's plot as resembling those of the 1950s, "dressed up just enough to seem contemporary." Holden regarded Bosworth's role as the toughest, as she showed Rosalee's "feet-on-the-ground optimism and innate wisdom" easily.

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on April 20, 2004. The DVD features 16

deleted scene A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar ...

s. It was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

disc by

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

on April 26, 2022.

Soundtrack

# "Superfabulous" - BT featuring

Rose McGowan Rósa Arianna "Rose" McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy '' Encino Man'' (1992), McGowan achieved wider recognition for her performance in the dark comedy ''The Doom Generat ...

# "Special" - Wilshire # "Some Days" -

Wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

# "More Bounce in California" - Soul Kid #1 # "Why Can't I?" - Liz Phair # "Back to You" -

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 wit ...

# "Something About You" -

Five for Fighting Vladimir John Ondrasik III (born January 7, 1965), also known by his stage name Five for Fighting, is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. He is best known for his piano-based soft rock ballads, such as the top 40 hits " Superman (It's No ...

# "Days Go By" - Jason Wade # "Leading with My Heart" - Alice Peacock # "Blue" - The Thorns # "Waiting" -

Kyle Riabko Kyle Riabko (born 29 September 1987) is a Canadian musician, composer and actor from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Before starring on Broadway in both '' Spring Awakening'' and ''Hair'', Kyle released a full-length album of original music on Columb ...

# "I Won't Go Hollywood" -

Bleu Bleu or BLEU may refer to: * the French word for blue * '' Three Colors: Blue'', a 1993 movie * BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy), a machine translation evaluation metric * Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union * Blue cheese, a type of cheese ...

# "Somebody" -

# "Shining" - Kristian Leontiou # "Once Again" - Frankie Jordan # "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" -

Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Win A Date With Tad Hamilton! 2004 films 2004 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Films scored by Edward Shearmur Films about actors Films produced by Lucy Fisher Films produced by Douglas Wick Films directed by Robert Luketic Films set in Los Angeles Films set in West Virginia Films shot in West Virginia DreamWorks Pictures films Films about fandom 2000s English-language films 2000s American films