20 Dates
Humiliation is one of the ugly little motors that drive Hollywood, a karmic sump pump that drains the egos of stars and fans alike. We elevate actors into icons so we can savor their make-believe beauty and mythic lives and negate ourselves. We cheer the backstory of their rise to fame as much as their on-screen adventures. Yet we also trash them, eating up their box-office defeats, marital crises, and cosmetic surgeries; this phenomenon surfaces every year at the Oscars, where the stars expose themselves, their escorts, their hairdos, and their outfits to a shower of kudos and scorn from their constituencies in the press and public.
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In 20 Dates writer, director, star, and narrator Myles Berkowitz routinely humiliates a score of women in Los Angeles, showing up for dates with a video crew in tow (though all 20 women signed releases allowing him to use the ambush-style footage). Ultimately Berkowitz humiliates himself most of all, allowing editors Michael Elliot and Lisa Cheek to include his most obnoxious moments, a crass bid for fame by a struggling actor eager to make it in Hollywood. After winning the Audience Feature Award at the 1998 Slamdance film festival, Berkowitz promised the festival a 10 percent kickback from his profits; what he sacrificed in personal dignity he earned back in a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures.
“Being an actor,” she replies. “You’re always auditioning.” Mr. Berkowitz, your close-up is ready.
