Seeing virtually all the movies puts me in a rare position, of course, but it isn't very often that a film surprises me anymore. Oh, I may be impressed with a picture's quality or startled by a plot twist. But I seldom go into a movie and watch it become something completely unexpected.
Such was the case with "Mystery Date," however, which I had pegged as just another teen dating comedy. Instead, it turns out to be a very dark comedy of errors with a Hitchcock spin.
In that regard, it's kind of a cross between "License to Drive" and "After Hours." (There's also a touch of "The Graduate" early on.)
"Mystery Date" begins as if it's going to be little more than a run-of-the-mill teenage farce about a nerdy kid who worships a gorgeous girl from afar, then pretends to be something he isn't to finagle a date with her — a date that, naturally, turns to disaster.
Ethan Hawke, who was the sensitive lad in "Dead Poets Society" and had the lead role in Disney's recent "White Fang," stars in "Mystery Date" as Tom, a young man between high school and college who has a crush on Geena (Teri Polo), a girl who is house-sitting in his neighborhood.
In the film's early moments, he spies on her with a telescope, sifts through her trash to find information about her and dreams of approaching her. But, of course, he's too shy.
When his folks go out of town for the weekend, Tom's cocky older brother, Craig (Brian McNamara), returns home. He's supposedly been away to law school, though he seems to have loads of money and is rather mysterious about his car, a vintage convertible DeSoto.
Craig sets up a date for Tom with Geena, forcing Tom to take on a persona that is far from his real self — actually reflecting Craig's dress and manner. Then, when they are out for the evening, people keep mistaking Tom for Craig.
From that point on, Tom becomes the innocent-man-on-the run that was often the central figure of Hitchcock's work, as he attempts to deal with dead bodies and threatening hoods, while keeping Geena in the dark about what's going on.
Once the date gets moving, the film picks up its pace considerably and there are some very funny moments along the way. Hawke and Polo are appealing leading players, projecting intelligence and charm, and McNamara is nicely glib as the older brother who is not what he seems.
Fisher Stevens, as a harried flower delivery boy, tries too hard and goes nuts a bit too quickly when a gradual descent would have been more effective. But B.D. Wong, as a Tong Mafia leader, is a real scene-stealer, getting off some hilarious lines in a wonderfully smarmy characterization.
"Mystery Date" is uneven, to say the least, and never comfortably settles on the tone it wants to use. But it is surprisingly hip and funny in places and does have inspired moments.
Be warned, however, that it is also quite violent for a PG-13 rating. There is also some profanity and a few vulgar gags here and there.