'Turbo Dates' Just Flirting With Us For Now

Turbo Dates, this promising little program on comedy portal Fun Little Movies, known mostly for their mobile shorts, has the makings of a decent series. There is some heat behind this series, which is created, written and directed by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Carribean, Shrek) and produced by Jocelyn Stamat, On the site there are only two eps posted, ‘Ep 8: Potion’ and ‘Ep 2: Men Are From Mars’, which is a little frustrating to me because I enjoyed these two enough that I want to see more. For now, they’re not embeddable, so you’ll have to head to their site to check them out.

So, now questions arise, where are the rest? Are these the best? Will I ever be able to see any new ones?  At this point, it’s not clear. Word is that 10 episodes are in the can and should a sponsor get on board, Rossio said he could do 100, reports Andrew Wallenstein.

It’s pretty amusing, actually. The first, ‘Potion’, about a bachelor that brings a love potion to a speed date, is a sharp concept with a very funny turn at the end that I did not see coming. And the actors are quite good, Alexa Havins and Nic Wegener, both of whom give solid line deliveries with spot-on timing. The writing is simple, nothing special, but gets to the point well and quickly and the production is again simple but great. The second ep, Men Are From Mars, about a single woman who meets what is either a total geek or an alien from outer space is less funny, but short and sweet enough to leave me wanting more. The casting is once again strong with Terryn Westbrook playing the jaded single girl and Kyle Rankin playing the mystery man.

Ultimately, Turbo Dates turns out to be a well-executed great short form concept, the rollout of which seems, to be unfortunately, mismanaged. So this review is two-fold, it’s a review to say first, this is a good show worth watching. I’d come back for two minutes of this from day to day or week to week. However, I have no idea when or if to come back because the site itself gives me nothing but these two non-consecutive episodes and no information regarding the future. Just a soft launch to drum up some interest? So, please funlittlemovies.com, do your fun little movies justice and give me something, anything to work with so I know where and when to come back for a second, third or fourth visit of this potentially great series, Turbo Dates.