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entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
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Seen, Heard, Noted & Quoted
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by matthew richardson
The title of this movie, Blind Dating, explains it all; a blind guy dating. This works as a double entendre because, usually, a blind date means you don’t know who your date is until you’re actually on it.
This is your average romantic comedy with the twist that the main character is blind. He goes on a string of bad dates and eventually meets the girl of his dreams, but because of cultural differences, they must endure many obstacles to be together, proving that it’s not always love at first sight; there’s a little more.
Danny (Chris Pine), who has been blind since he was a child, proves this to the audience with a funny opening flashback memory of running into a tree. He hasn’t had much luck with women. Now in his early 20’s (and still a virgin), he captures the ladies’ attention, especially his therapist Dr. Evans (Jane Seymour), who happens to take off her clothes in the middle of their therapy session. He fails to notice this because of the simple fact that he’s blind.
Danny’s “Tony Soprano-wannabe” brother, Larry (Eddie Kaye Thomas), owns a Limo service and does a little something on the side that involves prostitutes and his trunk. He sets off on a mission to find his brother that special someone…to lose his virginity too. Danny thinks otherwise because he wants the real thing, but that doesn’t stop his brother from setting him up with outrageous and disastrous dates. Besides, Danny won’t know, once again, because he’s blind.
Danny goes on five dates and while all of them were short-lived with one that ends before it even started, none of them could look past the fact that he was blind.
After 3 unsuccessful dates, Larry finally decides to hire a prostitute to go on a date with him. While an unwanted game of footsies is being played with Danny under the dinner table, his “date” receives a call and she tries to secretly seal a deal with a John, but gets busted after she blurts out that she doesn’t do elderly people. This results in Larry’s nose getting busted from Danny’s rage of being setup.
Fed-up, Danny finally agrees with Larry’s concept of losing his virginity and he agrees to his fifth date on the one condition that she can’t know that he’s blind.
To pull this off, Danny studied where he was going to be taking his date. They eventually go back to his place and, after she gave Danny a private dance and realized he showed no reaction, she was shocked to find out that he was blind and not gay.
Even though Danny is blind, he doesn’t let that hold him back from much of what he wants to do in life. When Danny receives word from his therapist about a procedure that might grant him vision, he undergoes tests to prove his commitment to the treatment. While visiting the office for his daily tests, he finds an attraction to the office secretary Lezza (Anjali Jay). Lezza is an Indian beauty who has an arranged marriage, but finds Danny charming. After a few wit-filled comments, they date. Wanting more than ever to see Lezza’s face, he continues with the tests, but after Lezza breaks the news to him about her engagement, he gradually quits.
As most romantic comedies go, you can guess the ending…I’ll leave that for you to find out. The romance part was dead-on, but as for the comedy, it needs work. The jokes were dry and mediocre, childish and predictable. Given that Lezza’s family was Indian, what’s so funny about a young boy perusing the Kama Sutra or laughing at a blind kid on the verge of eating dog poop? Funny, but not hilarious - I could’ve thought of that. And Danny’s therapist getting undressed in front of him is pointless - he’s blind.
by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
EU: The movie’s been marketed almost as a frat boy-type movie, judging from the movie posters and parts of the trailers. What should viewers expect going into the movie?
Keach: I think what they should expect is that it’s very funny and it’s very moving…Of the two brothers in the movie, one guy is a frat boy and Chris is not that guy…
EU: It’s a movie that has a heart, it makes you feel good when you’re leaving the theater…
Keach: I think you’ve hit the target there…In all of the screenings across the country, we’ve done it every time. The movie just speaks to people that aren’t cynical. We live in a very cynical, dark world in many ways, and this movie hopefully is a different view, a different way of looking at it.
EU: Your wife, Jane Seymour, is super-sexy in the film…
Keach: I would have to agree with that! (laughs)
EU: I know you’ve collaborated with her many times, so I have to ask the question—what’s it like directing your wife?
Keach: I think we’ve done fifteen to twenty films. We don’t bring our marriage to work. We’re both so into what we do…It’s great, she’s so supportive of what I do and I feel the same thing about her. She allows me to direct her. She knows that her best interests are my best interests and vice versa. So it’s a great working relationship.
EU: What did you have Chris Pine do to prepare for being blind?
Keach: Chris Pine worked with Tom Sullivan, who is blind…Tom has been a movie producer, broadcaster; he wrestled in the Olympics. I think he went to Harvard. I mean, he’s incredibly brilliant. Great musician…When I got the script, he was the first friend of mine I sent the script to…He gave me a lot of feedback on the inaccuracies of the script…and then as soon as we found Chris—I had Chris work with him for several weeks…Chris watched and observed him…he learned how to lean on somebody, how to be led, where your eyes actually go…and Chris, in preparing, played blind for two days in Vegas…He actually made people believe he was blind. He found a lot of disturbing things, like people wouldn’t talk to him since he was blind, they would only talk to…[his companion]…like he’s not there…When we were screening the movie last week in Houston, a woman got up and said, ‘I just want you to know, this movie is so accurate, even down to the way his brother treats [his blind] brother, making it harder for him being mean…
I’m a twin and my sister was born blind at birth, so it’s completely accurate.’
EU: I wanted to ask you about Anjali Jay. She’s well-known in England and has done plenty on the BBC, but she isn’t known in the U.S. at all…
Keach: It’s her first movie…We couldn’t find a girl here, so we went to London to find her. She’s a member of the Royal Shakespeare…We call her the Indian Audrey Hepburn.
EU: Your career has spanned over quite a bit of ground, but currently you’re known as the guy who produced Walk the Line, which seems to be quite a departure from this film. What made you decide to go in a different direction?
Keach: In some ways it’s the same direction, it’s a story about the human condition…Walk the Line is about forgiveness and redemption and this guy’s soul; it’s a love story, right?
So is this…I really love love stories. We connect with the people on the screen and then we connect with each other.
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