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Letter to the editor

Film

Blinding in its stupidity

If you're looking for a date, you can do a lot better.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published May 10, 2007

Take the punch line of every Helen Keller joke that made you wince, add the sexual immaturity of American Pie, blend with overeager actors and you have the recipe for Blind Dating. A more tasteless concoction is hard to find in theaters now, and why would you search?

Blind Dating stars Chris Pine (Just My Luck) as Danny, a handsome guy who happens to be – that's right – blind. And he wants a date, hence the title. That's the smartest thing about James Keach's movie.

Danny handles sightlessness well while everyone around him considers it a badge of honor, pity or sex appeal. Certainly there's a movie there somewhere, but this isn't it. His brother, Larry (Eddie Kaye Thomas), is a limo driver for hookers, but Danny's not interested in his clientele. His parents are overprotective, especially when Danny applies for experimental surgery that might restore his sight.

Pine has watched actors play blind people enough times to mimic their head tilts toward sounds, avoidance of eye contact and cane etiquette. He isn't bad, just stuck with a screenplay that is.

His co-stars are embarrassing, starting with Jane Seymour as a psychotherapist who can't resist stripping before her blind patient and Stephen Tobolowski as the surgeon who's too serious for the stupidity around him.

Choosing the nadir of Blind Dating is a tossup.

On one date, Danny tries to conceal his blindness to ensure that the woman is interested in him, not his condition. The dinner reservation is switched to a table he didn't expect, creating several minutes of uncomfortable mishaps. Har-de-har-har.

Then there are the postsurgery scenes when the "camera" inserted in his head goes haywire, causing severe headaches and fretful reactions.

Or maybe the scenes of Danny's obvious soulmate, Leeza (Anjali Jay), bristling against her Indian heritage and its tradition of arranged marriage just so the film can mock her ethnicity. Or any scene involving Larry's sordid clients.

Keach's movie isn't blind; it is just dumb.

Steve Persall can be reached at (727) 893-8365 or persall@sptimes.com.

 
Blind Dating

Grade: D-

Director: James Keach

Screenplay: Christopher Theo

Cast: Chris Pine, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jane Seymour, Anjali Jay

Rating: PG-13; sexual content and language

Running time: 95 min.

[Last modified May 9, 2007, 20:59:47]