My Dad's Christmas Date

This has a Hallmark type movie title where you expect the misadventures of a teenager trying to set her dad up, misfire and then succeed. But it is, in fact, a story about a father and daughter experiencing grief. The individual stories take a path that develop each character and explore their own response to the Mother/wife's death. The father and daughter story is poignant and not candy-coated. The father's loss is hard for the daughter to understand and Piven does a great job of not cheesing up his reactions. The character is sad, at a loss, and feeling alone. The daughter is equally complex, alienating a friend b/c she can't contain her emotions.

Some motifs could have been more effectively used. The father loves dancing, but it doesn't show up enough (or the loss of it) to make the ending meaningful. The memories of his wife don't include them.

The daughter being spurned by the boyfriend was sadly cliche as a way of finding out more about herself.

Still, i recommend it for their relationship, for the examination of grief and loss, and for the lovely settings and locations.

This film definitely deserves higher marks, I don't know why anyone would give it a 1??? I was going to give it a 9, but decided on a 10 because My Dad's Christmas Date was that good.It makes me laugh, it makes me cry. It's one of the best xmas movies I have ever watched. The acting is also wonderful the actors are nice and sweet. if you love xmas then you must watch My Dad's Christmas Date

There's huge potential in Jeremy Piven, anyone can see that after watching Entourage. The story and the directing was OK, the acting was excellent, but the atmosphere was totally ruined by the poor selection of soundtrack. The songs should have supported the acting but they simply didn't match the scenes and the feelings, at all.

This movie has some really funny parts, Jeremy Piven is funny and has good chemistry with his daughter played by Olivia-Mai Barrett, it's both strained and loving at the same time (which couldn't be more real). If however, due to the title, you begin watching it expecting a Christmas movie or Rom-Com (as I did), you're very likely to be disappointed. This is a Drama/Comedy, so if you're in the Christmas movie mood this isn't the one, perhaps that's why it's rating has dropped lower than what is deserves, for what it is. It's worth watching when you''re in the mood for a funny Drama.

The movie itself is bang average. But Jeremy Piven is really good in it!