"Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! is almost like the perfect-size ice cream sundae: not too sweet or overwhelming, but still satisfying." Sue Pierman MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL "Romantic comedy isn’t rocket science, but it’s nice to sit through one that makes you laugh, stirs the sentiment, and also leaves you feeling good about all the characters." Brian Webster APOLLO GUIDE "It's entertaining, funny, and absolutely works for its target audience." John Venable SUPERCALA.COM "This is a terrific romantic comedy. Funny, tender and filled with sparkling performances." Betty Jo Tucker REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS

What The Critics Say

"...innocuously breezy, witty, and acceptably charming in its saccharine-induced appeal...giddy gals will find Tad Hamilton refreshingly spry and spunky in hokey spirit" Frank Ochieng MOVIE EYE "This breezy no-brainer is the perfect recipe for escapist fun." Mike Sage PETERBOROUGH THIS WEEK "A light yet deftly paced date movie." Lisa Kennedy DENVER POST "Infinitely more entertaining, sincere, and charming than most teen romantic comedies ever dare to be." Audrey Rock-Richardson TOOELE TRANSCRIPT-BULLETIN

At A Glance

"Kate Bosworth and Topher Grace ignite light, but palpable sparks as the romantic leads, and the movie that surrounds them is well-paced and never less than entertaining." Dustin Putman THEMOVIEBOY.COM

Forgive me for generalizing, but I guess most of us have, at some time in our life, had a crush on a screen star. That's the premise behind this beat film, ""Win A Date With Tad Hamilton". And it works really well. I mean, imagine if you could meet the screen idol of your dreams. What would you do, what would you say, how would you behave. It's an intriguing question, isn't it? Producer Douglas Wick says, "My favorite romantic comedies are about longing, about wanting something or someone you can't have. From the first moment we read an early draft of 'Win a Date With Tad Hamilton,' we felt it captured that beautifully with Rosalee, a girl working in a small-town supermarket, and her big-screen idol, Tad Hamilton, seemingly out of reach. Another thing I was drawn to was that it played wonderfully off that Hollywood image people have and the starstruck world in which we live. People worship the movie stars they see on the screen, but if they ever got to meet their idol, they might think very differently." Screenwriter Victor Levin revealed that "he wrote the character of Tad to be the kind of movie star that, as the cliché goes, "women want and men want to be," so even he could relate to Rosalee's idol worship. Tad Hamilton is who I long to be. He is successful, talented and a decent person. He has a marvelous way of dancing through life with a minimum of pain and a maximum of happiness. I think I can say that his days are the envy of all of us," Levin explained, "although he is quick to add that, despite Tad's star status, "the theme of this movie is that everybody is a somebody. Whether you come from a small town or the highest stratum of society, at the end of the day, the playing field is a little more level than we may think." With a good script and the producers in place the next step was to find a director. Luckily the producers had seen "Legally Blonde" a number of times and that put its director Robert Luketic on the short list. "We have three daughters, and I think we've seen 'Legally Blonde' maybe 2,000 times," Fisher said laughing. "We immediately thought of the wildly talented Robert Luketic." A wise choice indeed.
Robert Luketic says that due to the success of "Legally Blonde," he had been sent a lot of scripts, "but this one I just couldn't put down. There was something about it that was very memorable, very real. It had a unique voice that was beckoning to me. I had wanted to choose a film in which I was once again able to fall in love with the characters, and I found that in 'Win a Date With Tad Hamilton.' I fell in love with Tad Hamilton and Rosalee Futch. In fact, I fell in love with all the characters." Now they needed the main players. First role to cast was the most important one, that of Rosalee Futch. "The role of Rosalee was critical because the story is primarily from her point of view", Douglas Wick says. "What was tricky about her casting was that you had to have someone who could be believable as a supermarket checkout girl, but when she dresses up, you understand how someone like Tad Hamilton-who's seen every beautiful girl in the world-would follow her home. It was hard to get all that working together." It wasn't an easy task. "We searched high and wide for our Rosalee," Robert Luketic attests. "You don't come across all the qualities we were looking for in too many individuals." Finally they discovered Kate Bosworth, star of "Blue Crush". "One of the reasons I wanted to do this movie so badly," says Kate Bosworth, "was because Robert Luketic was directing it. As we saw in 'Legally Blonde,' he helps create these female characters who are so quirky and sweet and wonderful, and still intelligent and true to themselves. That's what I loved about the part of Rosalee. She is so sweet and innocent and naïve, but in the best way. She doesn't mask her emotions. She can be kind of goofy and spazzy and I'm the same way. I'm not the sort of person who tries to act cool all the time; I like to embrace my inner dork, so it was fun to portray that."
When it came to casting the role of Tad Hamilton there was much discussion and debate amongst the sceenmakers. "There were several ways we could have gone for Tad, ranging from the big, established movie star to an unknown," Luketic said. "I think the decision we made to go with a relative unknown was the best one." Of his character Tad Hamilton, Josh Duhame says, "The interesting thing is, I think at one point Tad really was the boy next door, but he's been fed all this attention and, over time, the attention and celebrity is something he's become accustomed to. But beyond all that, he has a good heart, so he sees Rosalee as someone he can use to make him a better person." Next on the list was Rosalees Piggly Wiggly co-worker Pete.
It turns out there was a real connection between Topher Grace who plays Pete and Kate Bosworth. They both "Bosworth had lived in the same small town in Connecticut as children and attended the same elementary school, which added a real-life facet to their onscreen friendship. It works well. "They have such a strong friendship, that it would break Pete's heart if she said 'no,' and they couldn't even be friends after that," Grace says. "What's really great about the guy is he loves her so much, he is willing to forego having a romantic relationship just to be in her life. But this date with Tad Hamilton brings his true feelings to the surface."
There certainly is a real feel to "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" and that is because all the cast gel together so well. The film will prove to be a 'real find' for many cinemagoers so if you don't want to kick yourself later when you suddenly discover "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" on DVD, well get into a theatre now and enjoy this very cute romantic comedy with a twist. Great for that date film, mother and daughter day out, for new loves and old romantics. Good fun. Cast and Crew Bytes "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" was .................
Directed by Robert Luketic ["Titsiana Booberini" and "Legally Blonde"], Produced by Doglas Wick ["Gladiator", "Hollow Man" and "Spy Game"] and Lucy Fisher ["Jerry Maguire", "Twister", "Gremlins" and "The Secret Garden"], Edited by Scott Hill ["Bruce Almighty" and "Just Married"], Costume Design by Catherine Adair ["Beverly Hills Cop III" and "D-Tox] with original music composed by Edward Shearmur ["The Sweetest Thing", "Charlies Angels I & II"] and cinematography under the direction of Peter Collister ["The Master of Disguise, "Mr Deeds", "The Animal" and "Blame It On Rio"].
"Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" stars .................
Kate Bosworth ["The Horse Whisperer", "Blue Crush" and "The Rules Of Attraction"], Topher Grace [televisions "That 70's Show" and "Traffic"], Ginnifer Goodwin ["Porn 'n' Chicken" and "Mona Lisa Smile"], Nathan Lane ["Nicholas Nickleby", "The Bird Cage" and voiced "Stuart Little I & II" and "The Lion King"], Sean Hayes from televisions "Will and Grace" ["Pieces Of April", "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" and voices for "Dogs and Cats" and "The Cat In The Hat"], Gary Cole ["The Gift", "One Hour Photo" and "I Spy"] with Josh Duhamel who makes his big screen debut as Tad Hamilton.
The Story

"Win a Date with Tad Hamilton” is the kind of film people always say they should make more of - now that they’ve made one, go see it!" Tony Toscano, U.S TALKING PICTURES

Grocery store clerk Rosalee Futch dreams that someday, somehow, somewhere, she will meet her big screen idol, the handsome Tad Hamilton. Rosalee's dream is about to come true. In an effort to redefine Tad's image in the press, his management come up with the perfect promotion, "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton". Imagine Rosalee's surprise, when, after entering the competition, she arrives home to discover a media frenzy on the front lawn of her father's house. Now she's off to meet bad boy Tad in Hollywood. But a strange thing happens. After their date, Tad finds himself genuinely attracted to Rosalee, a person he sees as having good qualities, a lot of goodness. He leaves Hollywood behind and heads for West Virginia and the Piggly Wiggly grocery store Rosalee works at. Sounds ideal. It is. Tad buys a farm with a view to settling down. He's popular with all the locals. Rosalee is estatic. It's one big happy town. Except for one person. Rosalee's best friend and fellow worker Pete who is secretly, hopelessly in love with her. The Verdict "Light, fluffy, funny, romantically sweet. All the right ingredients to guarantee "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton" has plenty of appeal. And it does! The perfect couple film. The perfect date film. The perfect mother and daughter film. Don't sit there - just go see it. A lovely romantic little film." The Cast

Kate Bosworth Topher Grace Josh Duhamel Nathan Lane Sean Hayes Gary Cole Ginnifer Goodwin Octavia Spencer Amy Smart Ren Trostle Wendy Worthington Stephen Tobolowsky Moon Bloodgood Mary Jo Smith Joseph Convery Deena Dill Bob Glouberman Sam Pancake Jay Underwood Patrick O'Brien Larry Agney Willow Bay Todd Eckert David Wolrod

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Rosalee Futch Pete Tad Hamilton Richard Levy the Driven Richard Levy the Shameless Henry Cathy Feely Janine Nurse Porsche Woman Customer George Ruddy Gorgeous Woman Sonja Mickey Reporter Rosalee's Limo Driver Hotel Clerk Policeman Tom Father Newell 90 Year Old Man Herself Maitre d' Roger Bodger

The Crew Directed by Robert Luketic Written by Victor Levin Produced by Lucy Fisher & Douglas Wick Original Music by John Mayer & Ed Shearmur Set Decoration by Susan Mina Eschelbach Cinematography by Peter Lyons Collister Film Editing by Scott Hill Casting by Joseph Middleton Production Design by Missy Stewart Art Direction by Mark Worthington Costume Design by Catherine Adair Key Makeup Artist Department Tammy Ashmore Production Management Sharyn Shimada-Huggins Run Time 96 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2004 - Universal Pictures/Dreamworks Pictures - All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2004 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved