Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Morgan M. Morgansen's Date with Destiny" is a 5-minute short film from 2010 and it is a mix of live action and animation. The main reason why it is not entirely forgotten is the fact that this is a (not so) rare directorial effort by Golden-Globe nominated lead actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The entire thing is basically the depiction of a date between the two protagonists and the obstacles they are facing on the path to happiness. Romance is probably the one area where this movie tries to succeed the most, but to me it really did come short there. The second area may be comedy, but in that field it was probably even more disappointing. It is somewhat fitting the film came out almost the exact same time as "(500) Days of Summer" because I found the tone, atmosphere and ambiance really similar and I don't mean this in a good way sadly. Also fitting that JGL's co-lead here, Alexandra Nicole Hulme, played a small part in 500DoS. Overall, I give this little film we have here a thumbs-down. It certainly could be described as style over substance in my opinion. I hope the slightly longer sequel will be better.
