The Wedding Date : Leave it at the Altar.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Some mildly amusing moments. Beautiful English countryside.

Cons: Don't pay $8 to see it. Wait a few months and rent it.

The Bottom Line: 
Although I like the actors, they could not save this predictable, mostly unfunny film.

Author's Review
On Saturday my son and a friend and I all decided to go to a movie since it was such a rainy weekend. We went to see The Wedding Date. Overall, this movie was okay. It was really not outstanding or memorable in any way, but it was mildly entertaining and amusing. It is simply a light-hearted romantic comedy, no more, no less.


The Wedding Date stars Debra Messing (TV's "Will and Grace") as Kat and Dermot Mulroney ("About Schmidt") as her hired date, Nick. I was a bit taken aback when, with the credits rolling at the opening of the movie, the viewer sees a newspaper want ad page with names of men circled. Next, you hear a voice mail message on an answering machine from one of the men in the ad saying he will be Kat's escort to a wedding. This is how we are introduced to the premise of the movie. You get to jump right in, no time wasted on interviews or explanations. Kat is out the door with her numerous bags of luggage to attend her younger sister, Amy's wedding. The best man at this wedding is her ex-fiancé, Jeffrey, who Kat is deathly afraid of seeing again, without a date. She is in her 30's and gasp (!) doesn't want to show up without a date to her sister's wedding. Seems silly really, but I guess I can understand her feelings somewhat.


Kat and Nick take their transatlantic flight together, basically as complete strangers. Kat pays Nick, the professional escort a whopping $6,000 to accompany her and act as her attentive beau in front of her family and friends. Kat is nervous about people accepting Nick and repeatedly apologizes to Nick. Nick in turn berates Kat for her continuous apologies. Kat is concerned that Nick and she have matched their outfits too much, unintentionally, so there is a scene in which she changes clothes three or four times, so that they do not match. What a waste of time.


Kat and Nick arrive and Nick is introduced to Kat's Mum, "Bunny" (Holland Taylor) and her Step-Dad, Victor (Peter Egan). Kat announces to Nick that her Mother will not allow men to stay with her in her home, Bunny quickly nixes that old rule and allows the two "lovebirds" to share one bedroom. Of course, this makes for what should be some hilarious embarrassment. It is a mildly amusing scene as Nick prances about no inhibitions, much to the shock of Kat.


The plot thickens as Kat sees her ex-fiancé, Jeffrey sulking. She wonders if he is sulking about her and her new beau. There are a few twists and turns, some believable, some not. There is a bachelorette party in which all the ladies get drunk and silly. (One character, who plays a friend of bride, Amy as well as Kat is known as “T.J.” (actress Sarah Parish). She was portraying a loud and somewhat obnoxious woman and I found her to be annoying, rather than funny. Nick is the consummate professional, never cracking a smile unless he is “onstage” as the loving boyfriend. To Nick, this is just another job. All of Kat's relatives are wondering about this wonderful and handsome new boyfriend. He is so perfect! Where did Kat find him? Kat skirts the questions. Amy (Amy Adams “Catch Me if You Can”) is cute and perky as Kat's younger sister. (In some of the scenes she looked very much like Tonya Harding!) But Amy has a few secrets of her own, as are revealed as the movie unfolds. Jeffrey, Kat’s ex-fiance, seems to be a less than attractive prospect given his personality. What Kat had ever seen in him is not apparent.


There is also the gratuitous scene in which Kat and Nick are angry with one another and in the very next scene are making up with romance and kisses, as their inhibitions wear down and they are becoming fond of one another. These two know each other a total of about 72 hours and are quickly realizing that they are in love. Very predictable and very unrealistic.


The actor playing the groom ("Ed") in this film looked familiar to me, but it wasn't until afterwards that I realized who he was. My son informed me that the actor playing the groom is Jack Davenport (he was Capt. Norrington in "Pirates of the Caribbean").


Although I like Dermot Mulroney's acting abilities (I thought he was memorable in "About Schmidt"), I found him to be a bit cold in this role. I guess I'll have to chalk it up to he was playing the part of a pro, but even when he starts to (inevitably) fall for Kat, he still seems shallow and two-dimensional. We were fortunate enough to have a chance to see Debra Messing in person last Fall when she was a guest on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". She is enjoying her success on the popular "Will and Grace" Show. She also appeared in the movie, "Along Came Polly" (with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston) last year. She is cute and bubbly and did a good job in this role. My son said Meg Ryan could have been in this role too, but perhaps she's done enough of her share of these kinds of movies playing the ‘spunky gal’. (Still it seems Meg Ryan often plays characters named Kate ["Kat"].)


There are great shots of the beautiful English countryside. There is one scene also which shows Nick driving through a charming English village to the wedding destination in his sports car, the only car on the road.


Directed by Clare Kilner ("How to Deal")


~Thanks for reading~


©: gkm.




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