The Wedding Date: Movie, DVD & HD DVD Review (2005)

9/06/2007 Posted by Admin

Cute, formulaic

(Originally published 2005)

Clare Kilner’s cute, formulaic romp, “The Wedding Date,” follows Kat Ellis (Debra Messing), a desperate Virgin Atlantic employee who hires a gigolo for $6,000 so she can save face at her sister’s wedding in London, where Kat’s ex-fiance, Jeff (Jeremy Sheffield), happens to be best man.

Since it’s Jeff who dumped Kat, she finds it unthinkable to show up at the wedding alone. Call her crazy, but in spite of all that she has going for her--her sense of humor, her charm, her looks, a successful career--her self worth is nevertheless placed on who she’s with, not who she is.

And so along comes Nick Mercer (Dermot Mulroney), a smoldering wedge of Wellington with a Brown education to match his bedroom brown eyes. Nick is, as they say, a professional escort, which in Kat’s case doesn’t necessarily mean sex for cash, but the sort of guy who can look good on her arm, read a situation, understand his part in it, flirt with her just enough to make Jeff jealous, and provide the necessary mortar to make sure nothing crumbles during their long weekend abroad.

That is, of course, should he and Kat manage to remain emotionally uninvolved.

Based on a script by Dana Fox, “The Wedding Date” is slight and it knows it. It has no pretentious. It’s an odd little fairy tale about a single woman and her paid stud, with obvious echoes of “Pretty Woman,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Bridget Jones’ Diary,” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” which also starred Mulroney, running throughout.

A compendium of those films is achieved here, and while much of it fails to be new or believable, “Date” still entertains. The film is brisk, the chemistry between Messing and Mulroney is undeniable, sometimes the dialogue is bright, and the stock characters are appealing, particularly Holland Taylor as Kat’s mother, Peter Egan as her father, and Sarah Parish as her ripe, anything-goes cousin.

As for Messing, she’s a movie star. This is her first starring role in a movie and she proves consistently watchable--even if the material isn’t exactly fresh, and even if she is only playing a variation of her character Grace from “Will and Grace.” Is there something deeper for Messing to reveal? Will a better film show us a different side to her talent? Don’t bet against her.

Here’s hoping “The Wedding Date” does well enough at the box office to allow her that chance.

Grade: B