''20 Dates'' is a 1998 American
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
These productions are often used to analyze or comment on ...
film.
Myles Berkowitz
In Greek mythology, Myles (; Ancient Greek: Μύλης means 'mill-man') was an ancient king of Laconia. He was the son of the King Lelex and possibly the naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are ...
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
*
Myles Berkowitz
In Greek mythology, Myles (; Ancient Greek: Μύλης means 'mill-man') was an ancient king of Laconia. He was the son of the King Lelex and possibly the naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are ...
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, singer and former model who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera '' General Hospital''.
Carrere played C ...
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 is the author of ''Story: Substa ...
as himself
*
Elie Samaha
Elie Samaha (Arabic: إيلي سماحة) is a film producer in Los Angeles, with production credits beginning with '' The Immortals'' in 1995. He has produced over 83 works, primarily films along with some video games. He produced '' The Boondo ...
as The producer (voice)
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. The aggregate review websites
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 ...
and
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 ...
recorded scores of 35% and 36 out of 100, respectively.
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 and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
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 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 ...
of ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' 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, 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''. With i ...
'' 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, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...
*
List of American films of 1998
A list of American films released in 1998.
''Shakespeare in Love'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Highest-grossing films
A-Z
See also
* 1998 in American television
* 1998 in the United States
External links
*
* List of 1998 bo ...
References
External links
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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
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