Blind Dating | Erbenizer

blind dating Blind Dating date at your own risk

‘Oh, how the Mighty have fallen’ is a phrase that comes to mind after watching James Keach’s return feature, four years since the compelling Johnny Cash biography,Walk the line, His latest undertaking into the world of rom-com, penned by debut screenwriter Christopher Theo, which was actually completed three years ago, is less than impressive, and speaks volumes in terms of a distributor’s reluctance to take on and release this theatrical turkey of a fiasco any sooner. Blind Dating is a clichéd, disjointed (badly edited), muddled, and über-PC attempt at ‘impaired’ comedy that not even lead, golden boy, baby-blue-eyed Chris Pine (Captain Kirk from Star Trek fame) can rectify with female sympathy votes for his character’s situation. Pardon the pun, but did the rising Star Trek star enter into this project blind?

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What begins as an average tale about finding true love in the most unexpected places, with genuinely appealing possibilities at tackling two comedy-sensitive areas of blindness and race, eventually turns into sci-fi lunacy as blind guy Danny (Pine) gets a brief glimpse at the world around him in RoboCop vision style, only for it all to go wrong in the most (unintentionally) hilarious circumstances. Other unfunny moments include Jane Seymour as the less than prudish Dr Evans who feels the need to flash her sexy underwear, whenever Danny is in the room. Admittedly, Seymour fans get to see their attractive idol in a state of dishevelled attire, long after they thought they ever would again, but for the rest of us, it just triggers weary sighs of dismay and smacks of desperation to draw a few laughs and display some female flesh – other eye candy in the film aside.

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What little credit there is to muster (and the one-star rating) goes purely to Pine and Eddie Kaye Thomas (Finch from American Pie), who plays Danny’s girl-crazy, limo-driving brother Larry, for trying to inject some wit into the proceedings in their sibling ‘bonding’ together. Movie newcomer and Danny’s love interest, Brit Asian actress Anjali Jay (Robin Hood), is as densely wooden in her performance as some of the statues in her character Leeza’s father’s Indian restaurant. And please do not mention the Bhangra dancing episode at the end, which comes across as a futile attempt at leaving the viewer with an upbeat feeling that hope can flourish in the face of life’s obstacles – one being this film for Pine’s career.

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Being totally honest, the only hope this film did bring was the mouth-watering expectation of grabbing a succulent, spicy Indian meal and a beer straight afterwards to wash down its unpleasant, flat aftertaste. Of course, Pine fans will be drawn to theatres in their droves, blinded by the obvious fact that they have spent good money on this ass of a film, plus the bondaged-induced hunk on the poster, surrounded by hotties, will prick the interest of anyone wanting to ‘disengage the brain’ for 95 minutes. So, the resulting Pine effect will be as fresh as a forest, but as dense as the script. Keach needs a serious career rethink, and his colleague, Theo, needs to go back to the day job – whatever that was?

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Synopsis

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A hilarious comedy about Danny (Pine), an intelligent, confident, handsome young man who also happens to be blind. Not that he’s letting that hold him back-for the most part, Danny refuses to let his visual impairment get in the way of anything. He’s one of the most popular guys in town, and is even an ace at basketball. Which is why Danny’s girl-crazy, limo-driving brother Larry (Kaye Thomas) is horrified to discover that Danny is not only shy and nervous when it comes to the opposite sex, he’s also a virgin.

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Determined to help Danny have his first sexual experience, his brother Larry sets up a series of hysterically disastrous blind dates with shallow girls that can’t seem to get past his sight impairment. Danny is all but ready to give up on love, until he meets a pretty young East Indian nurse named Leeza (Jay), who works at the office of his eye doctor. The two seem made for each other… until Leeza reveals that she has been promised to another man in an arranged marriage.

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Film Facts

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Official site: TBCUK Release Date: 18th September 2009

Director: James Keach

Writer: Christopher Theo

Cast: Chris Pine (’Danny’), Eddie Kaye Thomas (’Larry’), Anjali Jay (’Leeza’), Jane Seymour (’Dr Evans’), Stephen Tobolowsky (’Dr Perkins’), Sendhil Ramamurthy(’Arvind’)