For a while Netflix was really on a roll, popping out rom-com after rom-com after rom-com. There was The Kissing Booth, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and Sierra Burgess is a Loser. Then, it seemed as though they grinded to a halt—rude. Ever since Noah Centineo’s encore-inducing performance as Peter Kavinsky in the Netflix original film, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (TATBILB) back in August of 2018, the Internet has collectively claimed him as their preferred boyfriend of the moment. Luckily, for fans and Centineo alike, Netflix has given him no lack of parts since the success of the film that has even led to the confirmed production of a sequel. While watchers eagerly await the release of that project, they have been gifted with yet another Netflix original film called The Perfect Date. This movie will be starring Centineo, as the frontrunner, alongside Riverdale’s very own Camila Mendes and Lady Bird’s Laura Marano. This film is actually a little bit of a reunion of sorts for Marano and Centineo; if your love for Centineo goes way back, you’ll likely remember that he guest-starred on Laura Marano’s Disney Channel show, Austin and Ally, as Ally’s crush Dallas, the cellphone accessory cart guy.
(Courtesy: J-14)
The Perfect Date’s plotline follows Centineo as Brooks Rattigan, a high school senior looking to raise some funds in order to attend an Ivy League College (beauty and brains, it doesn’t get any better than that, ladies). Clearly, Netflix really enjoys the idea of a fake boyfriend storyline with Noah as said fake boyfriend—*cough cough* TATBILB—because while most students would typically look into acquiring a part-time job, Brooks ultimately ends up developing a dating app after being paid to take rich-girl, Celia (played by Marano), to a dance. This dating app is nothing like Tinder though. Through the app, girls are able to hire Brooks as the perfect plus-one for any given situation, a stand-in if you will. Girls willing to pay for the service get to pick his personality and interests. With that, playing a new persona day in and day out understandably leads to Brooks questioning who he truly is as a person and who exactly he wants to be with—Celia, a new friend, or Shelby, long-time dream girl (played by Mendes).
According to its IMDb page, The Perfect Date has a solid rating of 7.9/10 which is a pretty promising rank for those who are eagerly anticipating its release. According to Cosmo, the original working title of the movie was supposed to be “The Stand-in” and, interestingly enough, The Perfect Date is actually based on a novel written by Steve Bloom called The Stand-in. When Netflix originally teased the release of The Perfect Date, it said that Noah Centineo would “pretend to be your boyfriend this summer,” but the finished product actually debuted Friday Apr. 12 on Netflix! If you’re still not completely sold on the idea of this movie, check out the trailer and reconsider because it’s likely to be a hit given the past success of Netflix’s rom-com originals.