"I don't know. What's your jock size, Melissa?"
Tom (Dempsey) and Hannah (Monaghan) have been best friends since meeting in college. Tom is a millionaire playboy who has a long list of rules about dating so he can date several women simultaneously, and Hannah restores art in a museum. They meet once a week for coffee and conversation. They are content with the arrangement, and then Hannah is sent to Scotland for 6 weeks. During this time, Tom realizes he has feelings for Hannah and resolves to act on that when she returns.... but when she returns, she brings Colin (McKidd), her fiance.
They are getting married in 2 weeks and want Tom to be the Maid of Honor. He takes the job to prove he is the better candidate for Hannah. With the help of his best friends: family man Felix (Harris), cynical lawyer Dennis (Messina), and Gary (Arquette), Tom prepares to be the best MOH ever. Colin seems like the perfect guy: no skeletons in the closet, athletic, royalty, etc... and the other bridesmaids, including Tom's hostile ex Melissa (Phillips), aren't overly helpful. Who is the right man for Hannah?
Predictable... occasionally tacky... took many stupid sex jokes / sight gags.
I wasn't expecting much... so it was better than I planned... but there was so much the filmmakers could edit out of the film to make a better film; or at least make some things a little more subtle (why does no one understand subtlety?).
The scenes in Scotland were beautiful... even if the filmmakers used every stereotype about Scots (the food, the dialect, etc). The bridesmaids were funny... except for the weight story of Hilary (Emily Nelson). The filmmakers make comments about her weight a few times... putting her on a liquid diet and the debacle of getting her into the dress... funny, but could have been done better.
When the film ended I thought it was cute and funny... and I remember laughing a few times throughout the film. Yes it was predictable, but all chick flicks (and most movies in general) are predictable. The more I think about this film the more I wish the filmmakers had beefed up the relationship between the leads: how did they go from meeting in college to being best friends as adults? Who made the first move? Fleshing out that relationship instead of focusing on stupid / disgusting sex references / "jokes".
Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan have great chemistry and are interesting. And Sydney Pollack was a welcome addition as Tom's oft married father. No one was glaringly bad, the film just wasn't great.
Similar to My Best Friend's Wedding, but not a remake... o.k., but not worth watching again anytime soon.
Made of Honor (2008) 101 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sexual content and language.
Director: Paul Weiland
Starring: Patrick Dempsey as Tom Bailey
Michelle Monaghan as Hannah
Kevin McKidd as Colin
Kadeem Harris as Felix
Chris Messina as Dennis
Richmond Arquette as Gary
Busy Phillips as Melissa
Sydney Pollack as Thomas Bailey, Sr.
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