20 Dates (1998)
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38% of critics liked it
(32 reviews) -
49% of users liked it
(520 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
- Rating, Runtime
- R, 1 hr. 32 min.
- Directed By
- Myles Berkowitz
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
- On DVD
- Aug 3, 1999
- Studio
- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
Berkowitz is a rather annoying person.
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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.
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Justine Elias, Village Voice
Like an obnoxious four-year-old who believes everything he does is fascinating and adorable, filmmaker Myles Berkowitz likes to announce, at the very start of a first date, that certain foods cause him to suffer from diarrhea or constipation.
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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.
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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.
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Cast
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Myles Berkowitzas Myles -
Elisabeth Wagneras Elisabeth -
Richard Arlookas The Agent
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Robert McKeeas himself -
Elie Samahaas Producer
