Plot
The film opens with a soldier and nurse getting out of two 1950-style cars in the middle of night. The nurse runs up to the soldier and the camera switches to reveal this to be a scene from a film. The three Piggly Wiggly store workers—Rosalee, Cathy and Pete—are watching and as the nurse on screen asks for forgiveness and the soldier agrees, the women in the audience are moved to tears as Pete is clearly unimpressed. As the girls wonder what Tad Hamilton—the star of the film—is doing at that moment, their prediction of praying is proven false as the scene cuts to Tad—described in the next scene by his agent—"drinking, driving, smoking, leering and groping all at the same time".
The conclusion of the agent scene is that Tad must clean up his act to convince a director to cast him in an upcoming film; the solution, a competition to win a date with Tad, is found out by Rosalee as she surfs the internet. With the help of the Piggly Wiggly customers and the reluctant agreement of Pete, the girls raise the $100 entrance money as Pete reveals to his superior that he will leave for Richmond to go to college after he has a discussion "with someone about going to Richmond with me". This person is obviously Rosalee, but a news crew outside her house signals her success at winning a date with Tad Hamilton, and as Pete sees her off at the airport he sadly warns her to guard her "carnal treasure". Rosalee is awed by Los Angeles and becomes tongue-tied in Tad's presence; the date does not go well as Rosalee throws up in the limo and Tad mentions his love of animals—which Pete had warned was a signal of sexual intentions—rousing her suspicions. After seeing Tad's house, Rosalee requests to go back to the hotel and soon returns home leaving Tad thoughtful.
As Pete is about to tell Rosalee about moving to Richmond she is surprised—as much as Pete is disappointed—by Tad's sudden arrival to get to know her and have some of her goodness rub off on him. Though Rosalee is still cynical of him as he uses a line from one of his films, his admission of not having "his priorities straight" seems to convince her of his good intentions. During a phone call with his agent, Tad insists that he wants to turn over a new leaf, and will not return to Los Angeles for a while. When he picks Rosalee up for a date he leaves a good impression on Rosalee's father, who had studied hard for the encounter. Pete tries to stop Rosalee seeing Tad, reporting the pair for parking at the infamous Water Gap, convince her that Tad is just using her, and then directly competes with Tad in farmyard chores; despite all his efforts, Rosalee and Tad grow close over the next few days.
In the bar, Pete corners Tad in the men's room and after giving up the competition for Rosalee's love tells Tad that Rosalee is more than a wholesome small town girl, she is a wonderful person with "the kind of beauty a guy only sees once". He explains about her 6 smiles: one smile when something makes her laugh, one for polite laughter, one for when she makes plans, one when she makes fun of herself, one when she's uncomfortable and one when she's talking about her friends. He makes Tad swear not to break her heart or he will tear Tad to pieces with his "vicious rhetoric". When the pair is in Tad's hotel room, his agents appear and inform him that the director has decided to cast him in the film after all. Tad is overjoyed and convinces her to come to LA with him by using Pete's "6 smile" speech.
After a rousing speech about great love from Angelica, a bar maid with a crush on him, Pete rushes to Rosalee's house and confesses his love for her but she is confused and resolves to still go to LA with Tad. On the plane when Tad fails to identify one of Rosalee's smiles he confesses his lie and she asks to go home. She runs to Piggly Wiggly and Pete's house, then drives furiously towards Richmond to overtake her heartbroken friend. And, in a set-up similar to the opening scene, Rosalee and Pete get out of their cars and Pete, surrendering to cheesy romance, asks her to dance.
Read more about this topic: Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!
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