A middling, paint-by-numbers romantic comedy, Paul Weiland’s Made of Honor has had about as much thought put into it as that awful pun of a title.
Take My Best Friend’s Wedding and replace Julia Roberts with Patrick Dempsey and you have a good approximation of what to expect here: womanizer Tom Bailey (Dempsey) finally realizes he’s in love with best friend Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) just as she announces she’s getting married and moving to Scotland, asking him to be an unlikely maid of honor at the wedding.
Will Tom be able to successfully sabotage the wedding and reveal his true feelings to Hannah? Will audiences still come to these movies no matter what 80’s relic they resurrect? I hear Steve Guttenberg is looking for work.
Made of Honor goes through the usual motions and gives us the usual ensemble of colorful stereotypes, including the bitchy best friend, the overweight best friend, the clueless grandmother who dons a necklace made of glow-in-the-dark anal beads and Colin McKidd as the Scottish He-Man who we’d rather see Hannah marry.
The film ultimately fails because of the lack of chemistry between the leads (though, admittedly, they share a great on-screen kiss) and our obnoxious, arrogant leading man.
Here’s a guy who beds a new woman each night and refuses to see any of them more than once a week; how are we supposed to root for him? Conspicuously absent in the film is the scene where Tom realizes the error of his ways.
Dempsey is a likable enough actor, but not likable enough to overcome those character flaws; I’m glad to see him getting work, but the attempt to turn him into some kind irresistible hunk here is laughable; it’s been 20 years, but anyone who remembers his quintessential nerd in 80’s classics like Can’t Buy Me Love and Meatballs III isn’t buying the new persona.
Sydney Pollack shows up briefly as Dempsey’s equally womanizing dad; this was the acclaimed director’s final acting appearance.
