20 Dates (1998)

38% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
49% of users liked it
(526 ratings)

Myles Berkowitz wrote and directed this mock documentary about a filmmaker who gets a producer to finance his personal search for a girlfriend, filming the odyssey on a $60,000 budget. In the opening credits, Berkowitz tries to drive onto studio lots without success. His first date observes that the… More Myles Berkowitz wrote and directed this mock documentary about a filmmaker who gets a producer to finance his personal search for a girlfriend, filming the odyssey on a $60,000 budget. In the opening credits, Berkowitz tries to drive onto studio lots without success. His first date observes that the film is really only about himself, and his second date exits the restaurant and doesn't return. After a discussion with script analyst Robert McKee, he decides to use hidden cameras -- which bring only the threats of lawsuits. After he meets shop girl Elisabeth (Elisabeth Wagner) and they become a twosome, he attempts to renegotiate his contract by stopping at 17 instead of 20 dates. This film was awarded the audience prize at the 1998 Slamdance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 32 min.
Directed By: Myles Berkowitz
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Feb 26, 1999 Wide
On DVD: Aug 3, 1999
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
Berkowitz is a rather annoying person.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
A chronicle of how aspiring American filmmaker Myles Berkowitz finally came up with an idea for selling a film: He'd combine his two areas of failure in life -- trying to break into movies and trying to find a girlfriend -- into one problem.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Berkowitz went to great trouble to stage, edit, and control certain aspects of his film so that it has a formulaic dramatic structure; one wonders why he didn't make the effort to present himself as a likable human being.
Paul Tatara, CNN.com
What's so disagreeable about Berkowitz is that he seems to think that his natural tendency towards egotistical self-promotion is an adorable quirk, something that you should be completely taken with even as it makes your skin crawl.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
20 Dates may be unpleasant to watch, but despite Berkowitz's icky manners and unwinning calculations, he does find true love.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The film has the obnoxious tone of a boring home movie narrated by a guy shouting in your ear.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
An intermittently hilarious, often painful and too frequently self indulgent documentary.
Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat
Myles Berkowitz may be the most annoying human being alive.
Chris Gore, Film Threat
Hilarious and a must-see.
Jon Alon Walz, Boxoffice Magazine
Had the filmmaker gone the path of the true, entertaining, and unpretentious faux-documentary, the audience would have cheered our love-starved hero along his entire journey rather than restlessly waiting for a date to strangle him with a camera cable.
Douglas Konecky, culturevulture.net
I haven't laughed so much at a movie in ages.
, E! Online
There's plenty of spunk, but the high-concept low comedy drags on like the awkward dates it lampoons.
Ross Anthony, Hollywood Report Card
This is one to put on your "to rent" video list.
Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide
A promising directorial debut by Myles Berkowitz.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Cast

Myles Berkowitz
as Myles
Elisabeth Wagner
as Elisabeth
Richard Arlook
as The Agent

Robert McKee
as himself
Elie Samaha
as Producer

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