'The Perfect Date': Movie Review

Noah Centineo plays Brooks Rattigan, a high school senior who has dreams of attending Yale in the fall after graduation. His dad, a washed-up writer who has lost his fame years ago, wants him to attend a community college where he teaches. This is not Rattigan's dream, though, and he will do anything to get into Yale. To raise the money he and his best friend start an app for dateless girls to use Rattigan as a stand in boyfriend. Along the way he meets a goofy girl named Celia Lieberman, played by Laura Marano. The rest is history... or every romantic comedy ever made.

This movie was one that my girlfriend put on Netflix looking for something to watch. She enjoys all the cheesy romance movies Netflix has been putting out lately. She loved Centineo's previous film, 'To All The Boys I've Loved Before', so naturally she loved this one. I will say that I actually quite enjoyed this movie. This movie felt like it was almost an 80's throwback to me. My favorite rom-coms of all time are the ones from the 80's and 90's including 'Pretty in Pink', 'Can't Buy Me Love', and '10 Things I Hate About You'. This movie felt like it was all three of them rolled up into one movie. *SPOILER* Brooks and Celia are in a fake relationship they put on for everybody to make their crushes jealous. In order to get with their respective crushes, however, they must break-up. When Brooks and Celia have this pretend break-up for their pretend relationship, the male character gets carried away in his new persona he has caught because of all the popularity and attention, and he hurts the girl's feelings. This was a major moment where I thought to myself, "This is 'Can't Buy Me Love". There were many instances where I kept comparing it to my favorite rom-coms from the past.

I thought over-all this movie was pretty enjoyable. It has a sweet message in it that makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it cliché? Yes. But that's what made this movie so fun. It was just a plain movie with likable characters that you can relate to. This movie doesn't have to be the greatest movie of the year. That's not what it's trying to be. This is a 'come home at the end of the day and relax' type of movie. In my opinion, there needs to be more innocent, feel-good movies like this one. There's no sex, no nudity, no cussing, a perfect date night movie with your loved one.