Made of Honor

Now Showing
On Sky Movies Screen 1 08/12/09 16:20
Director: Paul Weilland
Stars: Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Sydney Pollack, Kathleen Quinlan
Year:  2008 Running Time:  101 mins Rating: 2 out of 5 Certificate 12
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Comeback kid Patrick Dempsey plays Tom, a rich arch-seducer and commitment-phobe who doesn't realise his best friend Hannah (Michelle Monoghan) is the girl of his dreams until it's too late. She's only gone off to Scotland and got engaged to a Highland laird after a whirlwind romance. It's up to Tom to win her back…but time is running out. British director Paul Weiland has crafted an amiable wee collision between My Best Friend's Wedding and Monarch of the Glen.

Review

"You never know what you've lost 'til it's gone" goes the classic ditty. And too late Manhattan playboy Tom (Dempsey) realises they're singing his song.

He's a stubbled bon viveur who roars around Manhattan in an open-top sports car effortlessly eliciting phone numbers from honeys in cafes where he's ordered incredibly complicated lattes.

But after a no-strings tumble - his cardinal (carnal?) rule is "no back-to-backs": ie nothing permanent - he scores his emotional fix from art historian and platonic best buddy Hannah (Monaghan).

He's getting the best of both worlds...until she is sent to Scotland by her art gallery and runs into Kevin McKidd's Scottish aristocrat and is swept off her feet. They pencil in a wedding date.

Tom - who Hannah has asked to be one of her four Maids of Honour - realises too late that he's in danger of losing his soulmate and puts in place a plan to woo her back. But has he left it too late?

Dempsey - who is enjoying a revival worthy of Lazarus - strikes the right balance between innocent and rogue and even gets the chance to show off his juggling skills (it pays to have a fallback from the precarious whims of the acting profession. Patrick should know).

You get the feeling that rom-coms aren't exactly a challenge for the talented Monaghan while the Scotland portrayed here is the variety gracing a million tins of shortbread.

It's a magic place of shimmering lochs, ancient, brooding castles, unintelligible accents and sunny-natured Celtic supporters. Visit Scotland will be toasting the movie with the finest malt.

Tim Evans

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