Mystery Date

Dream dates that go from bad to worse has been a running theme in movies for so long that it should be it's own genre. In the late 80's and early 90's, a lot of the teen flix being released loved using this trope. One of the more memorable ones is 1991's Mystery Date.

Ethan Hawke stars as a shy young man who's crushing pretty hard on a young lady, Teri Polo, who lives in his neighborhood. With the help of his sleazy brother, Brian McNamara, he lands a date with her. Problem is that once they go out Hawke is mistaken for his brother, who has some shady dealings with an Asian mob boss, B.D. Wong. Now the mob, the cops, and an angry floral delivery man, Fisher Stevens, are on Hawke's trail.

I'll admit that I'm not the biggest Hawke fan. I've always thought of him as kind of a greasy, poor man's River Phoenix. And he and Polo don't really wow in this movie. That being said, it doesn't really detract from the fun. The film plays like an After Hours for the teen set, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's never really dull and it holds your attention. The film really picks up when Stevens is on screen. Imagine the little paperboy from Better Off Dead who just wanted his two dollars. Stevens character is like a grown up version of that. Plus there's a cameo from the band Gwar.

Mystery Date is a fun, little popcorn flick.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.