Netflix’s “The Perfect Date” Movie Review

Synopsis

“To earn money for college, high school teen Brooks Rattigan (Noah Centineo) creates an app in which he offers his services as a fake date or to stand in as a boyfriend when needed. But when real feelings emerge, things start to take a complicated turn.” – Showtimes

Review

I am a self-proclaimed sucker for rom-coms, especially young adult rom-coms. Give me all the cheese and fluff and awkwardness. Movies, television shows, books… I love it all. I think it’s because it makes me nostalgic for my high school days when I didn’t have any of that stuff except for the awkwardness. Anyways, this isn’t about me. This is about “The Perfect Date” staring Austin & Ally’s Laura Marano and the internet’s boyfriend Noah Centineo (he still holds the title for that, right?). The only things standing between Brooks Rattigan and his dream of going to Yale are his application essay, an acceptance letter and the tuition. He’s got the grades but working at a sandwich shop isn’t going to give him the money he needs for an Ivy League college. After getting paid to take out a classmate’s rich cousin, who isn’t what he was expecting at all, Brooks gets the idea for an app in which he’ll pretend to be whoever a girl wants him to be on a date: art connoisseur, cowboy, practice date, douchebag… anything. With the help of his best friend, Murph, The Stand-In app is born – along with a side app that tracks Brooks’ progress in getting his tuition money. However, in an attempt to find himself and perfect his college essay, Brooks ultimately looses himself and his friends.

I’ll be honest, in terms of fluffy and cute teen rom-coms, this one isn’t my favorite. That’s not the main point of this movie, I don’t think, but it’s the premise, so I’m going to talk about it. It’s cute overall, but don’t expect to see a bunch of cute dates and fluffy moments. There’s not a ton. It’s more funny than romantic, in my opinion. There’s a bit of a love triangle/square, but nothing too dramatic. As I’m sure most of us have noticed in his previous roles, Noah Centineo has chemistry with literally everyone. He and Laura Marano seemed to bounce off one another, especially when their characters are bickering or having fun. Also, Brooks and Murch are adorable best friends that I loved. Murch (Odiseas Georgiadis) was great in general. I love that he’s like an expert coder who can create apps, but also says his grades aren’t that great. He also gets his own little love story, which I loved because he’s shy and awkward and all we know about his love interest is his sandwich order. It’s adorable. All the characters are adorable… well, most of them. You’ll see.

Love stories aside, my favorite story line is the real meaning of the movie: you don’t have to know who you are or what you’re going to be at 18 (or any age for that matter). You don’t have to have your life perfectly planned out. You don’t have to go to the Ivy League. You don’t have to be rich or drive a fancy car. You don’t even have to know what you’re going to study right after graduating high school. School and society don’t define who we are as people. We can have no idea what we’re going to study. We can go to state colleges. We can be the person with the sassy and sarcastic attitude who wears combat boots and can’t dance. But also, if you want to be a person who has their life perfectly planned out, that’s totally cool too. As long as we’re decent and kind and respectful human beings, none of that other stuff really matters. So, major props to the writers of “The Perfect Date” for getting that point across. This is such a good message for teenagers (and young adults, too, honestly) who are stressing about things like this.

Grade: B

Stream “The Perfect Date” on Netflix!