[4]

Ethan Hawke stars in this action comedy about a shy high school boy whose older brother sets him up on a date with the girl next door. While Mystery Date starts out like a John Hughes movie, it quickly transforms into a proto-Tarantino flick when Hawke’s character gets mistaken for his brother, whose been living a shady lifestyle behind the family’s back. Cue the thugs, Chinese gangs, and Mexican stand-offs. The movie is basically a ‘date gone to hell’ sort of tale, with the girlfriend enjoying every minute of the adventure while Hawke’s character tries to figure out what the hell’s going on. It’s kinda tedious. Neither Hawke’s character nor the girlfriend (Teri Polo) are interesting, causing the serendipitous adventure plot to ring pretty hollow. With Fisher Stevens, BD Wong, and James Hong.