Saturday 7 February 2015

Blind Date - a lorra, lorra laughs

Walter Davis needs a blind date to impress his boss and allows his brother Ted to set him up with his wife's cousin, Nadia, who goes a little wild as she has an intolerance to alcohol.

Not to be confused with the TV show or the Kirsty Alley film. Straight off the bat of Moonlighting Bruce Willis is on fresh form as Walter. Incidentally he is being stalked by Nadia's ex called David (Willis' character name in Moonlighting). Willis is witty sharp, physical and funny. Blind Date was a box office success but it was panned by critic's, most likely as it poked fun at the very yuppies who were reviewing it.

Yes its packed with slapstick humour, but after all this is a Blake Edwards' film. There's mooning at a guard dog, golf balls knocking people out of trees, a menagerie of drunken moments as Nadia, played perfectly by Kim Basinger, causes mayhem, only for Walter to later embarrassingly do the same. There's Walter holding David at gunpoint and getting him to 'Moonwalk'. A Japanese ladies wig coming off. Walter's sleazy workmate palming off his card to his date. A James Brown car alarm. The sulky French head waiter. There's too many great moments and characters to mention. 

It's not perfect, it has it's eye rolling moments and it's not as slick and pacey as it could be, but bear in mind the late great Edwards was in his mid sixties when filming. Walter and Nadia fall in love a little quick and while the creeping around the house scene is not as well executed as Secret of My Success (1987) of the same year, Willis' falling on the golf- ball is hilarious comparable to Bill Murray's fall in Scrooged (1988).

There's plenty of great lines and performances from the supporting cast. Phil Hartman and William Daniels are particularly memorable. And Henry Mancini's score complements the film well.

Whether intentional or not writer Dale Launer and Edwards' Blind Date offer a social commentary in amongst the comedy. Blind Date is actually very self aware, spoofing its own time period, highlighting the sterile materialism and superficial modern life of the 80s. 

Overall great fun.

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