Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! Blu-ray review

Apr 12, 2022- Permalink

I have to tip my hat to Paramount Home Entertainment. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! was basically a flop when it was released in 2004, but over the years has grown a bit in affection by fans of the light romantic comedy genre. So while it may not have topped anyone’s “this has to be on Blu-ray!” list, Paramount has released it and those are always victories for fans of physical media. Directed by Legally Blonde’s Robert Luketic, the film marks the film debut of Josh Duhamel, who plays the titular character. Tad is in need of some image rehab, so his manager (Sean Hayes) and agent (Nathan Lane) dream up this contest. It’s won by Rosalee (Kate Bosworth), a West Virginia supermarket worker, much to the dismay of her co-worker, Pete (Topher Grace), who has unexpressed feelings for her. The usual rom-com hijinks ensue when Tad begins to actually have feeling for Rosalee.

The 1080p AVC encoded transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s a nice video presentation that does what we expect from the Blu-ray format. There’s good detail in faces, environments and textiles, the colour palette is bright with popping primaries, and the black levels actually give us nice detail in the darker scenes.

What did surprise me, for a rom-com that flopped in theatres, was the availability of multiple soundtracks. There’s an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track as well as German, Spanish (Latin America) and Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, German, Spanish, French and Japanese. It’s a pretty front-heavy mix with limited surround usage, but this is a rom-com not an action flick. Dialogue is clear and well-prioritized.

In terms of extras, there’s no slipcover or digital code. There’s about 22 minutes of short deleted scenes and a gag reel.

Again, an unexpected Blu-ray release from Paramount but it’s a cute little diversion for 96 minutes so if rom-com’s are your thing, you might want to pick Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! up.