You Can't Hurry Love (1988) by director Richard Martini is a cute little romantic comedy that shows the trials and tribulations of one normal guy while on a misguided quest to find his dream girl.
David Packer stars as Eddie Hayes, an average guy that heads for Los Angeles after being jilted at the altar by his fiancé back in Ohio. Once he gets to California he moves in with his free-spirited cousin (Scott McGinnis) and begins taking his very stupid advice about life in general and women in particular. Desperate to find "Miss Right", Eddie begins searching for her using a video dating service after bumping into Peggy (Bridget Fonda) at the beach, she is the video service's sales girl who talks him into using her service to find his fantasy woman. Under the tutelage of his dim-witted cousin he begins trying to find his dream girl by making a series of lame videos (each in a different personae) in an infantile attempt to find just the right kind of "normal" girl that he is after. What he ends up with is a series of truly nightmarish dates with girls that he has absolutely nothing in common with, which ultimately leads him to realize that he has been going about this all wrong. Over the course of the movie Eddie slowly realizes that what he's really looking for is a girl like Peggy, but she already has a hunk of a boyfriend and couldn't possibly want a "normal" guy like him, could she?
This is a cute and somewhat amusing comedy that most definitely has its funny moments. If you are a person who normally likes these types of light-hearted romantic comedies then you will enjoy this one as well. It is of course completely predictable; we all know who Eddie is going to end up with from the very first moment that they meet and it takes the rest of the movie for them to finally get together. Most of the actors involved are good in their respective parts but the two most memorable would have to be Eddie's wacko boss Tony (Anthony Geary) and a cameo by Charles Grodin as the father of one of Eddie's screwed-up dates. Grodin has a particularly funny (but short) treatise on "raincoats" and why every young man should be using them religiously, it is one of the highlights of the film. Kristy McNichol also has an amusing cameo as one of Eddie's dates, a psycho rock n' roll "performance artist" who turns into a video date from hell (as well as being the ultimate 80's hair nightmare).
Buying note: This film is available on full screen VHS tape, it is now out of print but still should be easy to find on the internet or at other used video outlets. It is also a part of a double feature DVD along with another romantic comedy, Love Hurts.
2-16-2006
