Dateless Dame Hires Male Prostitute....News at Eleven

Author's Rating:

Pros: Mulroney is charming; Some good lines here and there

Cons: Goofiness throughout; Weak directing

The Bottom Line: 
This is a very mediocre film that some will like and others will think is a complete waste of time and money. I fully understand all opposing viewpoints.

Author's Review
Weddings are often big events. They center on the bride and groom but often there are other fun, embarrassing, and otherwise mischievous activities taking place among the guests and the focus of attention can often turn away from the immediate bride and groom and over to the others at the event. This is the case with Wedding Date, a romantic comedy about a woman and her sister’s wedding.

Movie Facts:

Rating: PG-13
Director: Clare Kilner
Screenplay/Writing Credits: Elizabeth Young, Dana Fox
Theatrical Release Date: February 4, 2005
Movie Length: 90 minutes

Starring: Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, Jack Davenport, Holland Taylor, Peter Egan, Amy Adams, Sarah Parish, Jolyon James, Linda Dobell, Jeremy Sheffield

Contents of This Movie:

Kat Ellis (played by Debra Messing) is heading to her parent’s home in London, England to attend the wedding of her sister Amy (played by Amy Adams) and her groom- to- be, Ed (played by Jack Davenport). She knows that her ex fiancé Jeffrey (played by Jeremy Sheffield) will be in attendance. She doesn’t want to be seen as the former girlfriend who is now all alone.

So what does Kat do? She hires a male escort named Nick (played by Dermot Mulroney) to go to the wedding with her. Nick is more than just an ordinary escort- he is a sophisticated male prostitute but this doesn’t seem to matter to Kat. All she wants is to get back at her former fiancé for dumping her a few years back. Jeffrey is the best man at her sister’s wedding, so Kat knows she will have to confront him at some point.

Kat has an interesting family, to say the least. Her mother, Bunny (played by Holland Taylor) is outspoken about her daughter’s breakup with Jeffrey and her cousin TJ (played by Sarah Parish) adds some quick, unpredictable humor to the mix. Many events transpire, like Amy’s bachelorette party, before the actual wedding, where Kat gets involved with Nick in ways she never imagined. Will Kat’s plan to get even with her ex fiancé work out the way she planned, or will it have unintended consequences?

Final Thoughts:

“Wedding Date” is one of those movies that really bug me. It’s a light hearted, silly comedy about a woman who wants to seek some personal revenge against her ex- fiancé and parts of it do succeed at entertaining the viewer. But there are other parts that had me rolling my eyes, leaving me with that frustrating feeling I often get following a mediocre film. It is so much on the borderline between good and bad that the slightest shift in momentum could cause it to succeed or fail in the eyes of the viewer.

The basic plot of this movie is appealing in a weird way. Here we have an attractive woman who hires a male prostitute to escort her to her sister’s wedding. Her former fiancé is going to be there, and to add to the fun, he is the groom’s best man. The woman’s motive isn’t to find romance with this escort. All she wants to do is annoy her ex fiancé and seek revenge for him dumping her a few years back. Like I said, the plot is interesting, if only because it isn’t something that has been attempted in many films before and it offers all sorts of possibilities for a creative director.

Probably the best parts of this movie are some of its one- liners. I’m not the first person to say that many of them will stick out in your memory long after you watch this movie. Some of them are memorable for their humor; others for their deeper meanings. But regardless of the reason, they are good and they will remain in your memory.

As far as the rest of the movie, well, much of it is forgettable. The fiancé, played by Jeremy Sheffield, is a bumbling mess in this film and his contribution to the enjoyment of the movie was minimal. The same could be said of Peter Egan in the role as Kat’s father. He is ok, but he doesn’t really add much to the movie. And the plot itself, while fairly original, doesn’t get the creative spark from director Clare Kilner that it deserved. There are so many things Kilner could have done to make this movie more enjoyable. But Kilner sticks with silliness for the most part and neglected the opportunity to make this a more intelligent comedy.

With the other performers, the standout among them is Dermot Mulroney as Nick, the male prostitute. Mulroney fits the part well, and he is so charming and smart that you really don’t care anymore that he makes a living collecting money for sexual favors. I really like Debra Messing, too, as an actress and she is good in this movie, although her performance is a notch below that of her co- star, Mulroney. Messing is best known for her starring role on the television hit series Will and Grace and her success on the small screen will likely lead to more and more offers to star on the big screen. She is good here, and it should enhance her resume and result in more starring roles in the future.

So now comes the hard part: deciding how to rate this movie. I feel it is a 2.5 star film in every way, with some good humor, some goofy humor, and directing that is uninspired but acceptable for the most part. This movie walks a tightrope between “acceptable” and “not recommended” and I am torn between two and three stars so I am going to flip a coin and give Wedding Date………..three stars out of five and the slimmest recommendation possible. Some viewers will like the one- liners and the performances by the leads and these are the only ingredients that make this movie date bearable. It’s the type of date that is better than no date at all, but that leaves you wondering why you didn’t just stay in bed.