Un amour de témoin

Here is lighthearted entertainment for an enjoyable evening at the movies. Columbia Pictures tries to reignite the romantic comedy genre with this frothy piece. Made of Honor is nice picture to watch but somehow the whole exercise seems forced and one can only think of what could of been if the script was just a bit stronger...and the direction too. The movie takes way too long to get moving and doesn't know where to end....the final scene is tacked on.

It's hard not to give away plot points since this film seems glued together from bits and pieces of 1960's comedies as well as things you've watching on the Lifetime Network. Still it is fun. And Made of Honor is a lot more enjoyable than Baby Mama which is just a long...very long...skit from Saturday Night Live.

Patrick Dempsey looks good on the big screen but seems a bit lifeless. Do we really need scenes where characters discuss how pretty Dempsey is? He also looks a bit long in the tooth for the age he is supposed to be playing. But looks real good in a mini-kilt. On the other hand, Michelle Monaghan is enchanting and lights up the screen every time she appears. The audience falls in love with her. Other characters come and go as the plot line dictates. The three bride maids seem like a missed opportunity for comedy. The mother of the bride suddenly pops in...and out just as fast.

Made of Honor tries too hard to be something that is not in its DNA: an adult comedy. Attn Columbia: there is nothing wrong with making a nice movie. Why junk it up? Several bits are quite vulgar and add nothing to the plot. An example: Grandma Pearl wearing a necklace of thunder beads and several tacky references to Dempsey's character being gay.

In many places the cinematography is incredible - especially shots of the Scotish countryside. Almost too good for this film, it gives the film the look of a fairy tale come true. A big negative is the pop rock soundtrack that is overbearing and I would imagine exists only to have a soundtrack album.

Okay, after 10 minutes of "Made of Honor" it is crystal clear that best friends Tom (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) are madly in love with each other, and should be together. Tom and Hannah are beautiful and good people, but apparently not smart enough to figure this out now. So we have to wait it out for the next couple hours. Yes, this is formulaic romantic comedy, and taxing one's patience. Further complicating our pain, the fleet of writers—Adam Sztykiel, Deborah Kaplan, and Harry Elfont, depict Tom and Hannah literally on paper as smart, charming, and engaging, except for this glaring blind spot. However, despite the narrative devices and clumsy direction from Paul Weiland, I was enrolled by a scene with Michelle Monaghan. As Hannah, Monaghan looks wistfully at photos of her and Tom on her cell phone. She resonates with a sense of sadness and regret. Later Dempsey as the clued in Tom implores Hannah, "Please don't marry him…"

A lot of "Made of Honor" is over wrought and contrived; however, Dempsey and Monaghan's charm make you wait it out. Dempsey is the handsome engaging player lug-head, who underneath it all has a good heart. Michelle Monaghan is radiantly beautiful, funny, and smart. She is a younger Sandra Bullock. Monaghan is humorously vulnerable as Hannah, who is smart in settling for a relationship, because she fears she can't have what she really deserves. Monaghan is amazing.

We find that Tom and Hannah (Dempsey and Monaghan) became best friends as a result of Tom's college high jinx. Today Tom is very wealthy as a result of an idea he had for a cup holder sleeve. Hannah is the passionate art curator for the museum. Tom and Hannah are best friends with killer chemistry. Hannah is Tom's go to date for his father Thomas Sr.'s (funny Sydney Pollack) numerous weddings. The count is up to 6. Even Thomas jokes to Tom, if Tom doesn't marry Hannah, he'll make her number 7. Hannah, being Tom's tolerant and patient best bud accepts Tom's one night stands with hot women. She is even versed in his rules for sleeping with the same woman on consecutive nights. Tom also has his buddies, including solid Felix (Kadeem Hardison), with whom he plays basketball. Tom seems to have the perfect life. Then following Tom's father's wedding reception, Hannah tells Tom that she has to go to Scotland for 6 weeks on business. Tom facetiously says, "What am I going to do without you?"

During her absence, Tom starts to get a clue about Hannah-- being the one. So he decides to tell Hannah, that they should be together when she returns. However, Hannah returns with great news: She has fallen in love and is getting married in 2 weeks in Scotland. The guy is Colin (dashing and charming Kevin McKidd), who is a Scottish Duke and apparently the perfect guy. Really. Tom and his crew later get a glimpse of this at a ridiculous pick up basketball game experience. Anyway, Hannah asks Tom to be her Maid of Honor. Tom accepts. His bud Felix reminds him that he can "steal the bride" from inside the wedding. Predictably the rest of the Brides Maids are annoyed with Tom, particularly Maid of Honor runner-up cousin Melissa (angry Busy Philipps), who Tom slept with once.

For the most part "Made of Honor" is by the numbers romantic comedy. It does manage a touching turn, because we really want to know why Hannah ends up choosing Colin. It is transparent to us that Colin is the perfect guy, but he is not the perfect guy for Hannah. Fortunately, Dempsey and Monaghan's charm and chemistry for the most part wins over "Maid of Honor". Sydney Pollack provides welcome comic relief and staid fatherly advice. Kathleen Quilan is great in the supporting role of Hannah's mother Joan. Too bad she doesn't have a bigger role. But she has a moving moment with Monaghan as Mom talks about Hannah's late father.

"Made of Honor" is enjoyable for what it is: cookie cutter romantic comedy. We can suspend our disbelief, because Dempsey and Monaghan are great together.

Out of the gate Made of Honor is pretty standard, with it's cliché characters and dialog. We have Patrick Dempsey's character, a womanizing playboy type who's best friend is Michelle Monaghan, a lovable and pretty friend who "accepts" Dempsey's character. Michelle Monaghan's character is out of town for a few weeks, and during this time Dempsey's character has a personal reflection period, in which he realizes he cares for Monaghan's character more than he thought, he wants to be with her. So she's back in town and they meet for dinner. Here's the kicker, it's so she can introduce Dempsey's character to her fiancé. When it comes down to it, she asks him to be her made of honor.

Now the plot is not really new, just a gender reversal of "My Best Friend's Wedding" but it's charming. The chemistry between the film's two leads is great and is the saving grace, as you really do see why Dempsey's character is fighting for. Not much else about the movie is that new, the direction is on par with the given genre, the acting is on par with the genre, and most of the jokes are that of the genre. That being said the movie isn't bad, but you certainly aren't going to walk away with the feeling you'd get from classics like "When Harry met Sally".

Not bad but, a charming On Par addition to the Romantic Comedy genre.

a modest 5 out of 10

Made of Honor spells chick flick all over it, the perennial formulaic romantic comedy that tells its entire story in the trailer, but that's not going to stop couples from hitting the cinemas for their date movie flick, does it? What I thought was peculiar was that the original US rating for this was R, meaning a lot more sexual material thrown in, versus the now released PG-13 version which was re-edited, and over here, the rating of PG that allows for everyone to make a beeline if they want to escape from the week's blockbuster.

The plot's nothing new as well, with movies like My Best Friend's Wedding, and even from as far back as Three Men and a Little Lady where the best friend tries his/her very best to convince the bride/groom that their choice for eternal companionship, is of the wrong one, and of course, to make away with their respective selves to live happily ever after. And if you think the premise is a ludicrous one, where a man will take up the duties of a maid of honor, then Singapore perhaps just legitimized it with a wedding in a cinema last Tuesday, where indeed a male did grace the occasion of his best friend's wedding as her MOH.

For a man who doesn't seem to have a job and have a huge trust fund behind him, Patrick Dempsey shed his uptight role as a dad from his debut big screen outing with Enchanted, for a playboy called Tom who lives by certain rules in his dating game, and amongst them, no back to back sex with the same girl, no dates with the same girl unless it's a week apart, and never to call someone new in the next 24 hours, never bring them to weddings and family events, and the likes. Women find him irresistible (either for his looks or for that bank account), and he spares no time in getting to know them inside out. The ideal bachelor lifestyle I'd bet, with a constant flow of money, women, and good pals to shoot hoops with, none of them seemingly poor enough to hold down regular jobs.

However, he has his best friend and confidante in Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) with whom he spends his weekends with, and just when he discovers that he truly loves the girl, she drops the bombshell that she's going to marry a Scot whom she met during her business trip, and talking about whirlwind romances, will be getting married in 14 days. So the clock starts to tick in order for Tom to prove himself to be better than the groom-to-be Colin McMurray (Kevin McKidd), which is an uphill task as riches-for-riches they could be on par, but you just can't inject blue blood into you. While at the same time juggle his role as the maid of honor and going through the many girlie things that they're supposed to do for the bride.

While it is a formulaic story, what works, and so long as it does, this type of movies will forever be made, is the chemistry between the leads. You just can't deny that both Dempsey and Monaghan look good together on screen as a couple, and you can't help but find yourself rooting for them past their characters' stupidity to realize that they're made for each other, after 10 years of being together, with little clues left unanswered with questions such as "why do you like him" going unanswered. If only of course it were that easy in real life, that a romance can be wrapped up with Eureka-like moments of enlightenment within two hours.

Of course I must admit though with formula, it doesn't require anything cerebral from you as you sit through and (try to) enjoy the story in fantasy land. The eclectic soundtrack helped as well, with contemporary tunes taking centerstage and played at the right moments, from Smash Mouth's opening, to Oasis' Stop Crying Your Heart Out, when last I heard of it in a movie was in The Butterfly Effect. Supporting characters like Kathleen Quinlan and Sydney Pollack goes wasted of course.

Sometimes I'm literally amazed at the load of horse dung that comes out of Hollywood. This movie is no exception. This was clearly a formula movie, something produced to generate revenue and nothing else. I'm guessing someone in Hollywood was sitting around, trying to come up with new angles on old spins, and they blurted out, "Let's make a man the Made of Honor." Then they wrote a dry, bland, done a thousand times before script. The sad thing is, people actually pay to go see this stuff. Don't waste your time.

The acting is ho hum. The storyline is a mirror of so many other stories. And the overall intelligence of the characters and their life path decisions is insulting. And the ending…well, it's pure fantasy. Something only school girls' dream of. Which is probably the target audience for this movie.

When I watch movies like this, and yes, unfortunately, sometimes I do, it makes me wish they would have just donated the money to the homeless or the starving. It would have been money better spent. If you're going to watch this movie, get ready to do some serious snoozing. And maybe some "dejavuing" too. I give it a D. And that was being nice.