I can sum up My Date With Drew with one word: creepy. Now, I can understand the premise and that there is a certain charm to the idea, but there is a point where this film becomes very uncomfortable to watch. Brian Herzlinger has won $1100 on a TV game show with the winning answer "Drew Barrymore" and so, despite the fact that he barely has enough money to live, he decides that as he's had a crush on her since ET, he'll use this money to try and get a date with her. Unable to afford to buy a video camera, he gets one intending to return it under the thirty-day return policy (which sounds like a great idea when you consider a film like Phone Booth was shot in just twelve days). This gives him a target time of thirty days and a budget to film himself as he goes about trying to get a date.

He uses the concept of 'six degrees of separation' to find a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who knows Drew. If you've ever tried this, it's an interesting, if completely flawed, concept that anyone can connect themselves to anyone in the universe through a chain of only six people. (E.g. I have worked interviewing WWE's Kane, Kane works for Vince McMahon, who has worked with Hulk Hogan, who worked on Gremlins 2, produced by Steven Spielberg who is the godfather of Drew Barrymore. Simple!) What Herzlinger finds is that all it takes is one break in the chain and you're at a dead end. Throughout the film he meets the writer of Charlie's Angels, John August, (who despite the fact that he wrote one of the most successful films, is utterly useless at helping him), and 'stars' Eric Roberts and Corey Feldman, neither of who have seen Drew in a long time.

Brian meets Drew's cousin, but she openly admits that she's never met Drew and wouldn't be able to arrange a date. Because of all this, there are points where the film is quite frankly very boring. Brian hits dead ends and it's not so much that the dead end is heartbreaking or depressing, but as it adds nothing to his quest or the film then why include it? Five minutes is wasted on him getting pampered by Drew's facialist and during it he gains no information other than which treatment she likes. Despite the dream date looking less and less likely, Brian goes through a phase of trying to improve himself by working out, seeing a psychic and even going on a test date with a Drew look-a-like. The best thing about is when he meets a number of candidates who look nothing like her, but believe they do! I'm not sure whether it's because it's one of her favourite films, but he also spends a lot of time talking about and singing songs from Grease 2, which is a little creepy. Later he phones his ex-girlfriend to ask what she thinks about his project and and it's not surprising that she says it sounds "stupid" and that she only got with him because she "felt sorry for him". This leads to a number of angry calls between Brian and his ex, which are a little uncomfortable, and it's during this time that I actually felt that Drew's people should have taken notice and stopped all this. In fact, after all the revelations from this, you'd think he'd just call it quits.

The three camera operators (Herzlinger, Jon Gunn and Brett Winn) are clearly amateurs and though they have adequate skills, this does lack the slick work of some documentaries. It's never actually explained what Herzlinger's connection in show business is, but it's clear as the film progresses that he hasn't been very successful at it. A number of scenes see him rejected from jobs, receiving calls from his bank over late payments and maxed out credit cards. This is all a little difficult to watch and he even rejects using any of his budget to pay the bills, claiming that the quest for Drew is more important.

One thing that is very strange is that twenty-four days takes up fifty minutes of film and then six days are covered in almost the same amount of time. I understand that this is the critical point of the film, but you'd think that more would've happened in that time. However, this is where the film becomes even creepier, with Brian creating fake passes to get into an after show party to see Drew and this negates his earlier comments about not wanting to appear "stalker-like." It's points like this when you start to question his motives and worry that this is going to end like The King of Comedy. During this section, Brian talks about how he won't be able to talk to her due to nerves, which again makes me question what the point is at all? I won't spoil the ending as to whether he actually succeeds in going on a date with Drew, but by the end of the film I didn't care. Unlike Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me or Nick Broomfield's Tracking Down Maggie (which is similar to this film, yet an infinitely better attempt to gain an interview with Margaret Thatcher!) I simply didn't care what the outcome was and actually wanted Brian to fail.

Unlike other documentaries that pile on the extras to support the feature, there's just a trailer. That's it! No commentary, no comments from Drew, no deleted scenes, nothing. I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not, as the thought of spending more time with this obsessed guy might have just put me over the edge.

My Date with Drew is an appallingly constructed film that will give all those freaky stalkers out ther who are tired of fighting restraining orders an excuse to follow their idols with a video camera. There are some who may enjoy the naive, idiotic charm of Herzlinger, but I found him to be a rather sad individual who really needed to get his priorities right about life. Hopefully (based on his obsession in the film) he won't be allowed to make a sequel: My Date with the Cast of Grease 2!!

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).