"The Perfect Date": A Gay Sidekick in a Teen Operator Movie

Ordinarily I wouldn't be caught dead watching a movie called The Perfect Date. Sounds like the garbage movies of the 1980s, where teen nerd or operator tries to win the "it" girl, who is hot but dating a football jock, and ends up with the plain-but-nice girl who'se been rooting for him all along, meanwhile littering his speech with anti-gay diatribes.

But Noah Centineo is cute,so why not?  I've got 90 minutes to kill before dinner, and maybe he takes off his shirt.

Yep, this is definitely a 1980s teen-operator movie, with a money-making scheme, an "it" girl that he has a crush on, and a plain-but-nice girl who is rooting for him.

The premise: in order to make money for Yale, Brooks Rattigan (how's that for an entitled name?) hires himself out as a non-sexual gigolo.  Teenage girl clients only.  He provides last-minute service when your date cancelled, or when you need someone to make your crush jealous, or when you just want a perfect evening.

Pleasant surprise #1: No sex, only one kiss, the standard fade-out with the plain-but-nice girl. 

Pleasant surprise #2: His goal is to pay for college, not get a girl.  This is probably the first time that a movie teen has ever worried about tuition. 

Pleasant surprise #3:  His sidekick is gay.  The actor, Odiseas Georgiadis, may be a girl or nonbinary, but the character, Murf, uses he/him pronouns.

And he actually gets a boyfriend (Alexander Biglane, below). No kissing, but bf does appear on screen.

That's a huge improvement over the nonstop homophobia of 1980s teen nerd/operator comedies.

Criticism #1: Yale tuition is $41,000 per year, plus another $20,000 for room and board, so at $100 per date, Brooks is going to be very busy.

Criticism #2:  Have you ever seen such a self-centered, elitist, entitled jerk?  He blows off his sidekick, freezes out the plain-but-nice girl, and treats his Dad, struggling writer Charles, as a lackey.

Dad suggests that, given the state of their finances, the University of Connecticut might be a better choice.  In-state tuition is only $13,000, there are scholarships available, and besides, Murf is going there.   But Brooks will have none of it.  He's not going to spend the rest of his life embarrassed because he went to...ugh...a state university!






Criticism #3: Brooks learns What's Really Important in the end, and surprisingly, Dad, plain-but-nice-girl, and sidekick are all eager to forgive him.  Sorry, his redemption is too little, too late, and the gang rallying around him is too unbelievable. I'd be throwing him some major shade.

But the gay sidekick is revolutionary, and Noah Centineo is cute, so I'll rate The Perfect Date a B.