You Can’t Hurry Love (1988) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Skip arranged the interview with Peter Newcomb, who runs the advertising agency, but it was never a legitimate job opportunity. Instead of a desk job, Eddie was steered toward meeting Peter's half-brother Tony at a beach-side surfboard shop where he ended up handing out flyers. The entire setup was part of Skip's 'fake it till you make it' approach to Eddie's career in Los Angeles.

Foreshadowing: The fake interview establishes early on that appearances in LA don't match reality, setting up Eddie's pattern of pursuing surface-level success.

• job scam
• skip
• advertising agency
• peter newcomb
• tony

Eddie woke up at Rhonda's apartment where she berated him for his old-fashioned views on love and relationships. While he was unconscious, she recorded a video of him to capture his 'antiquated' attitudes. The situation escalated when Rhonda pointed a crossbow at him, forcing Eddie to flee in fear. The entire incident was captured on camera, adding danger to what started as a flirtatious date.

Foreshadowing: The chloroforming incident marks a turning point where Eddie's dating misadventures turn from humorous to genuinely threatening.

• chloroform
• rhnoda
• crossbow
• date
• danger

Eddie was arrested after a string of increasingly chaotic dating capers and deceptive situations. The exact charges aren't specified in the summary, but his involvement in the fake job scheme, the bizarre dates, and the shop window incident all contributed. His parents bailed him out, but the arrest marked a turning point where the consequences of his deception became real.

Foreshadowing: The arrest signals the end of Eddie's carefree approach and forces him to confront the reality of his situation.

• arrest
• police
• bail
• parents
• consequences

After his series of disastrous dates, Eddie makes a final sincere video for Video Valentine where he openly discusses his longing for genuine love rather than shallow encounters. This honest approach resonates with women who respond to his vulnerability, including Peggy. Skip then drives Eddie to a church where Peggy is serving as maid of honor, and she accepts his date proposal, leading to a hopeful kiss.

Foreshadowing: Eddie learns that authenticity, not performance, is the path to real connection, a lesson his earlier dates failed to teach him.

• peggy
• kiss
• church
• video
• final date
• sincere

Skip's parents learned about the antics and chaos surrounding Eddie's arrival in Los Angeles, including the fake job scheme, the bizarre dating incidents, and eventually Eddie's arrest. These events led Skip's parents to cut off his financial support, adding family consequences to the mounting problems Eddie's lifestyle created.

Foreshadowing: The financial cutoff demonstrates how Eddie's chaotic new life is affecting his extended family.

• skip
• parents
• financial cut
• family consequences

Eddie signed up for Video Valentine, a video dating service that required participants to create dating videos and go on blind dates arranged through the service. The service is where Peggy Kellogg works, and Eddie joined specifically to get closer to her. The dates through this service ranged from unusual to dangerous.

Foreshadowing: The video dating premise sets up the structure for Eddie's series of misadventures throughout the film.

• video valentine
• video dating service
• peggy
• dating experiment

Eddie's first blind date through Video Valentine was with a woman who resembled Madonna and had ambitions of fame. The encounter was unconventional, the woman's father offered Eddie a condom and reminded him about practicalities, then the woman straddled him in a convertible. The date ended with her leaving Eddie with her headshot, treating the meeting like an audition rather than a genuine romantic encounter.

Foreshadowing: This date establishes the pattern of women in Eddie's video dates being more interested in their own ambitions than genuine connection.

• madonna lookalike
• first date
• headshot
• father
• convertible

At an advertising firm party, Eddie was introduced to a senior executive who recognized his potential and promoted him. His date at the party believed Eddie was wealthy enough to earn courting favors. However, a larger older man who had been seeing the same woman crashed the scene and delivered Eddie a black eye, ending the evening violently.

Foreshadowing: The black eye illustrates the fragile line between luck and risk in Eddie's pursuit of success and romance.

• black eye
• party
• advertising firm
• older man
• promotion

Eddie came to Los Angeles to restart his life after being left at the altar in his Ohio hometown. The humiliation and desire for a fresh start drove him to seek opportunity in LA, where he hoped to break into advertising and find a new direction for his life.

Foreshadowing: Eddie comes to LA seeking reinvention, which explains his willingness to embrace unconventional approaches to career and romance.

• left at altar
• ohio
• move to la
• fresh start

Eddie tried to salvage a date with Monique by taking her to dinner with his parents, but she pushed boundaries by following him to the restroom and attempting sexual activity in front of an attendant. Later, she dragged Eddie to a shop window for a risqué public display, creating an uncomfortable spectacle that compounded Eddie's mounting troubles with his parents present.

Foreshadowing: This scene further demonstrates how Eddie's dating life spirals out of control and creates public embarrassment.

• monique
• shop window
• restaurant
• public display
• parents