In movieland, 'romantic comedy' is generally a misnomer, as movies of the genre are often neither romantic nor comedic. They're just stupid. The rom-com designation lives on, however, perhaps because 'Moronic Piffle' is not a term likely to attract viewers.
Anyone who despairs of ever again seeing a decent romantic comedy will want to know that the new Patrick Dempsey vehicle, Made Of Honor, is worth the price of admission.
The story isn't all that fresh but the characters are, and the screen pairing of Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan is a bit of inspired business. Dempsey is a player in this movie, a ladies' man who can't make a commitment, and Monaghan has just the spirit to keep up with him in her role as his very best friend. She's unimpressed with his conquests. She's fun to be around. She chooses good desserts. She tolerates none of his crap. By the time Dempsey realizes he's in love with her, everybody in the movie audience is in love with her too.
It's brilliant.
Made Of Honor is a chick-flick turned upside down, because much of the story is told from a male perspective. Tom (Dempsey) and Hannah (Monaghan) meet at university and are still good friends a decade later, living and working in New York. He tells her the idiotic dating rules he's made up for himself; she reluctantly accompanies him to yet another of his father's (Sydney Pollack) marriages to the bimbo du jour. Oddly, Tom sees nothing of himself in his father's pathetic wedding record.
Hannah goes to Scotland, falls in love with Colin (Kevin McKidd) and decides to marry him, right around the time Tom realizes it's Hannah he really loves. Devastated by her news, Tom agrees to be Hannah's Maid Of Honor, but only so he has the inside track to sabotage the wedding and steal the bride.
You can see he thinks it will be easy to wrest Hannah away from Colin, but he's very wrong.
Made Of Honor has standard humour and pratfalls -- you've seen Dempsey crash into that waiter in the trailer -- but it's also full of quick and dirty details that are hilarious.
There's a surreal moment from an Elisabeth Hasselbeck wedding guide video, for example; there's a curious bit of furniture in a lingerie shop, an exaggerated hairspray incident, and numerous other sly details that will make you laugh out loud. (Just don't be surprised if Scots boycott the movie.)
Made Of Honor is not without its sentimental moments, and the romance part of this romantic comedy is all on Monaghan's shoulders. As the good sport who'll never reveal her true feelings, her character gives the story far more emotional depth than the usual genre entry; Monaghan's performance is delightful. She and Dempsey are a good screen match, with Dempsey doing a sort of contemporary Cary Grant turn here that we hope to see him do again.
Made Of Honor is a pleasant surprise, funnier and smarter than one would expect.
Dempsey has said that the filmmakers were going for a somewhat old-fashioned feel to the film, but he didn't elaborate. Maybe they just hoped to replicate ye olde good writing and ye olde character development of yore. Good idea.
(This film is rated PG)
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