Adapted from the book 60 Dates In Six Months (With A Broken Neck) by Maureen Anne Meehan and directed by Scott Leslie, this romantic comedy is about an empty nester and widow who navigates dating again in her 50s. She goes through the trials and tribulations of finding romance and love and realizes that, to do so, she must date a lot.
Maureen (Katelin Chesna) meets Craig (Corbin Timbrook) on a first date. Although he has some quirks, he’s a perfect gentleman. As she’s new to dating again after being married and then widowed, she believes that Craig could be her new “the one”. However, after a few more dates, she soon realizes that Craig is still very much dating around and even tells her she needs to be dating more, too. Rather than getting discouraged, Maureeen takes Crag’s advice, sets up a calendar, and begins filling it with various dates.
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As she gets herself out there more, Maureen begins to meet all sorts of characters. There is the guy who is all about himself, another is a hardcore Star Wars fan, and as another one of her dates progresses to her house, the man becomes more interested in a potential real estate sale than in getting intimate with her. She finally comes across Mike (James Hyde), a good-looking guy who seems pretty normal. This time, Maureen has learned from her previous experience with Craig not to put all her eggs in one basket and keeps dating other people while still moving forward with Mike. Maureen recaps her dates with her friends and daughter.
60 Dates in 6 months is based on a true story about the author’s own experience, hence the main character being named Maureen. The issue with this adaptation as a feature is that the film is overall predictable and feels a bit vanilla. There are so many stories out there about dating and to properly capture an audience, there has to be an element of uniqueness. The film seems to follow a basic formula: kissing a few frogs to get to a Prince, and the big reveal or area of conflict is a red flag that’s been hidden from our protagonist.
This genre also faces a lot of competition from reality television that’s easily consumable on streaming platforms. When I speak of uniqueness, shows such as Love Is Blind, Love On The Spectrum, or Age of Attraction come to mind. Those shows have a higher concept and push the boundaries of what audiences have been exposed to before. It’s great that the author overall had a positive experience with her dating, but this story would have been better left in book form.
60 Dates in Six Months is now available on digital and VOD.
