40 Dates and 40 Nights

What would you do for a year of rent-free living? In this economy, the question for me might be: what wouldn’t I do?

Honestly, I’d love to throw that question out to a group of friends just to hear the responses. If you’re wondering where that thought came from, look no further than Andy Delaney’s new film, 40 Dates in 40 Nights, which pretty much tells you the answer right there in the title.

Leah (Bailee Madison) is single and, for the most part, enjoying her life. She works at a local toy company alongside her best friend Bianca (Luxy Banner) and has an amazing grandmother, Gigi (Annie Potts), who’s always there when she needs her. Not everything is perfect, though. Leah’s dating life leaves a lot to be desired, and Gigi thinks she has just the solution.

Gigi proposes a challenge: if Leah goes on 40 dates in 40 nights and finds someone worth keeping around, she’ll pay her rent for an entire year.

Let’s be honest—nobody is turning down a year of free rent.

So Leah embarks on a whirlwind dating adventure, and as you can imagine, the results are mixed. Along the way, around date number 20, she meets Mason (Joel Courtney), a guy she had a brief random encounter with before. Unlike the others, he seems different. But circumstances get in the way, and it appears Mason may not be “the one” after all, leading Leah to continue her quest toward free rent.

Of course, life has other plans. Mason finds his way back into Leah’s life, giving the two a real chance to get to know one another. Is he the one she’s been looking for, or will this 40-date experiment lead Leah right where she began?

Written by Sarah Howard, 40 Dates in 40 Nights is a very paint-by-numbers romantic comedy that rarely colors outside the lines. That’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable. The movie goes down easy and has enough charm to keep you watching, but I couldn’t help wishing it took a few more chances. There are almost no rough edges here, and the path the story follows is so predictable that you often find yourself wondering if we really needed to take this long to get where we all knew it was headed.

Now, that doesn’t make it a bad movie. Like most dates, it’s just not all that memorable.

Brian Taylor

Member of the North Texas Film Critics Association, and lover of all things Cinema