Summary: Bruce Willis's first starring vehicle was this 1987 comedy by Blake Edwards (Victor/Victoria), in which the actor plays a yuppie set up on a blind date with a beautiful blonde (Kim Basinger). Everything goes swimmingly until Willis does what he was warned not to do: give the lady alcohol, which causes her to get entirely out of control. The one-note joke basically turns the film into a succession of set pieces in which Willis has to keep up with Basinger, bail her out of trouble, or get out of the way of her hotheaded former boyfriend (John Larroquette). Willis is fine, Basinger is impressively unhinged, Larroquette is hilarious, and Phil Hartman has a nice role as the friend who set up Willis's evening from hell. The slapstick shtick is classic Edwards, but the film is not Edwards at his most inspired. Consider Blind Date the work of a good filmmaker in a holding pattern. --Tom Keogh
Blind Date
(2002)
