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The Wedding Date 2005 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Clare Kilner
PG-13, 90 min. (sexual content including dialogue) |
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Starring: Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, Amy Adams, Jack Davenport, Sarah Parish, Jeremy Sheffield, Peter Egan, H. Taylor
Producers: Jessica Bendinger, Paul Brooks, Michelle Chydzik
Screenplay: Dana Fox
Cinematography: Oliver Curtis
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Released: 2.04.05 (Wide) |
Rating:
  (out of ) |
The Wedding Date is a clunky, cliché-filled mess of a romantic comedy, seemingly stitched together with parts from other more successful efforts such as My Best Friend's Wedding,
Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Pretty Woman. It takes the premise of a male escort, mixes in a wedding, and reveals dark secrets that have the main
characters reaching for other if only for relief. Directed by Clare Kilner, the film meanders its way through this barebones formula genre, desperately searching for anything
worth actually showing on screen. If not for two affable performances from Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney, the picture would have spiraled even faster into
oblivion. As it is, it's not much better, but at least the main characters have some personality and seem to geniunely like each other. Unfortunately, it's not nearly enough
to warrant the film's existence.
Kat Ellis (Messing) hires Nick Mercer (Mulroney), a male escort, to accompany her to London for her sister's wedding. She is relieved to see that her $6,000 was worth
"every penny." The reason for her desperation - ex-fiancé Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield) is the groom's best man. Of course, Kat's date impresses the wacky family, who
seem to despise each other despite the niceties on display. As the wedding approaches, a dark secret looms to destroy everything at hand, but Nick is there for
reassurance and to help Kat "find herself." It's not long until Kat begins seeing her attraction to Nick turn to something more meaningful, while Nick sees Kat as more than
just another client.
The first third of the the film is easily the strongest. The premise is interesting, especially a "yoda-like" male escort that stands quietly in the background, offering nuggets
of truth and revelation to those who would listen. But things quickly begin to deteriorate as the film clumsily labors through various unnecessary subplots and friction in
order to pull Kat and Nick apart, which allows the inevitable conclusion that haunts all romantic comedies. The final act is so hectic and uneven that the more introspective
scenes at the start are trampled beneath stupidity and inane dialogue at the end. Kilner doesn't trust the logistics of such a premise, instead manufacturing and diminishing the film's
possibilities with pointless shenanigans.
The Wedding Date is a failed amalgamation of various ideas and well-tread material that seems lazy and uninspired in its execution. If Mulroney's Nick is akin to
Julia Roberts' Pretty Woman character, then where is the overwhelming desire to see Nick and Kat together? It doesn't exist, and therefore neither does the film.
There are shimmers of hope in the screenplay by Dana Fox, but more often than not it retreats to the confines of formulaic banter and matchmaking. It's difficult to fault
studios for churning out similar efforts almost every month, because there is still a hungry audience for this sort of thing (just check out their box office draw). Yet it
would be refreshing to observe a film that had the confidence and nerve to see its premise through to the end, even if it meant traveling beyond the lines of tried-and-true
genre constraints.
© 2005 Jonathan Cornwell
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 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
| Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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