Movie Notes: The Wedding Date

June 10th, 2009

The Wedding Date

= 2 stars

Starring Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, Amy Adams
Directed by Clare Kilner

Synopsis

Single Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) hires male escort Nick Mercer (Dermot Mulroney) to be her date for her step-sister Amy’s (Amy Adams) wedding in London. Hilarity ensues.

The Good

Starts out decently with Kat noticeably nervous, Nick ready for the challenge, and amusing set-up for some love-lessons from the latter to the former. For at least the first half, we get some some moderately amusing situations and chuckles, more specifically what services / talents exactly does Nick provide and will Kat be able to hide their arrangement from curious family members.
Pleasantly languid pace and picturesque direction. Everything is “just so” which is a refreshing change of pace from the more in-your-face, aggressive humor that seems to be in style these days.
Passable chemistry between Messing and Mulroney.

The Bad

Blows it about halfway through, with an unsatisfying interpersonal conflict between Kat and her sister (Amy Adams) that doesn’t provide much laughs and resolves much too nicely and quite lazily, leaving the characters sleepwalking their way to the obligatory happy ending. It’s actually the wrong issue to exploit – there should be more trouble between Nick and Kat to mine for laughs.
An overbearing soundtrack – there are more songs than dialogue, and I’d almost daresay the music was selected before the screenplay was written.

Conclusion

A disappointing flick where the everything – the actors, cast, direction – is capable and willing, but the script fails them, by not providing enough conflict or opportunity for characters to change – both essential ingredients in dramatizing that thing called “romance.” Skip it.

IMDB: The Wedding Date
Wikipedia: The Wedding Date
Rotten Tomatoes: The Wedding Date 10%

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