On April 21, the adventure action film “Dangerous Date” was released on Apple TV+. In it, the retired Captain America Chris Evans asked the beautiful Ana de Armas on a date, but later regretted it very much. In the review below, we tell you what could have hindered the happiness of the sweet couple and whether it is interesting to watch their adventures.
“Dangerous date” / Ghosted
Genre: romantic comedy, action-adventure-espionage
Directed by Dexter Fletcher
Starring Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Amy Sedaris, Tim Blake Nelson
Premiere of Apple TV+
Release year 2023
IMDb site
Good-natured farmer Cole Turner can’t seem to get his personal life together. Once at the market, he meets the real beauty Sadie and invites her on a date. The girl agrees, and now the lovebirds are singing karaoke, looking at Monet’s original “Women with an Umbrella” in a Washington art gallery, and kissing against the background of a bright orange sunset.
After a scene of obscenely innocent sex to the tune of a pop song, a happy-go-lucky Cole immediately tells his parents (and we learn that the ladybug still lives with them) about the girl of his dreams. He begins to write her one message after another. But, here’s the trouble, Sadie stubbornly ignores the texts from her obsessive boyfriend and even the miraculous emojis don’t help.
But the persistent seller of seedlings does not think to give up. The boy learns that the object of his adoration is in London. It is not a shame to go not only there, but also to the end of the world for such a girl. So Cole thinly packs his bags with the intention of making a grand romantic surprise gesture. But at the place of the poor man, he comes across some very gloomy uncles.
Later, he wakes up in the basement with a bag over his head, and a very unpleasant lover of exotic insects threatens the hostage with execution. Cole risks being bitten by an Asian hornet or, worse, tropical ants of the genus Paraponera. It turns out that you can even get wet from the bite of the latter. In exchange for dry pants, the boy is required to reveal some very important password.
Dexter Fletcher’s Dangerous Date begins as an average rom-com with attractive stars in the frame.
There is a light casual atmosphere, jokes, flirting, in short, everything that can be found in Harry Marshall’s films and can be called typical genre tropes. But the film quickly loses its playful mood and prefers to be an adventure-espionage action movie.
This change in genre priorities is unlikely to catch you by surprise. At least as much as the gender role reversal of Evans’ confused character. The trailer also promised fun chases, shootouts and face-to-face fights, so any surprises are out of the question. But in reality, everything seems not so rosy.
The combat part begins, however, quite briskly.
Ana de Armas, with truly terminator zeal, literally bursts into the frame to save the fool, and he, and himself, very skillfully portrays futility and confusion. The villain’s spades shatter in an almost John Wick-esque effect. The dynamics of editing collages can easily compete with the clip tempo of the late Michael Bay or Paul VS Anderson.
The scene of the chase through the mountainous landscape of Pakistan looks especially spectacular, albeit with noticeably soapy backdrops. There is not a drop of realism here, but watching her is fun and interesting. The problem is that after 40 minutes of such fun, the team of experienced and successful screenwriters has practically nothing to offer. The chemistry between the main characters disappears as quickly as the effect of the initial audience fascination.
Over time, the story will gradually turn into plot gruel with a flimsy narrative and wooden genre clichés.
The creators seem to forget not only the factor of Cole’s asthma, but also the manifestation of the smallest imagination. There will be a standard macguffin for espionage passions, another, almost caricatured villain performance by Adrian Brody, obligatory and not witty quarrels between the main characters, etc.
“Dangerous Date” cannot boast of a high-quality comedy component.
It reads like a weak attempt to mock people’s constant efforts to present themselves in a better light on first dates. Plus another variation on the theme of the TV show “Who’s on top?” (see the main picture for the answer) and literally several funny moments. But that’s all.
In addition, the authors manage to use all the cameos in a catastrophically toothless way. Unexpected appearances look extremely silly. At one point, it may seem as if they are trying to instill genuine Marvel fanservice into the audience.
Does all of the above mean that the new product from Apple TV+ is a completely useless movie? Not at all.
In general, this is an acceptable option for an evening that strongly requires good beer and all kinds of goodies to go with it. All the more, the audience will surely be pleased to watch how “America’s best buttocks” are being thrusted and the dress rehearsal of Ana de Armas before the upcoming performance in pointe shoes.
Pros: a bright and dynamic tie-in, the presence of several really funny episodes, beautiful actors in the main roles, good action Cons: excessive typicality and annoying plot sags, generally a weak comedy component, silly cameos for the sake of cameos Conclusion:
“Dangerous date” tries to sit on two chairs at once, but cannot fit comfortably on at least one of them
