Movie Review - Made Of Honor
Unbridaled wit will blow yer kilt off
May 2, 2008
By Theresa Smith http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=394&fArticleId=4382543
Made of Honour Director: Paul Weiland
Cast: Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd Classification:
13 MLS Running time: 101 minutes
Rating: ***
Made Of Honour may have all the hallmarks of a chick flick, but it is not the female lead who occupies the foreground here. Hannah (Monaghan) may be the unwitting object of affection, but this is Patrick Dempsey's movie. Not only is the story told from Tom's (Dempsey) point of view, but the camera doesn't miss an opportunity to linger on McDreamy. Tom is a successfully rich businessman who has no trouble with the ladies and has the right car and looks. He has rules about never seeing the same woman two nights in a row and always being perfectly honest, yet the one constant in his life is a female best friend, Hannah. When she goes off to Scotland and finds the perfect beau, Tom realises he is in love with Hannah and agrees to be her maid of honour in order to sabotage the wedding . Only thing is Hannah's fiancé, Colin (McKidd), is as much as dream guy as Tom. It's a standard paint-by-numbers storyline which is saved by the comic moments. Dempsey's training as a juggler pays off delightfully in the slapstick scenes. Beautiful people occupy beautiful apartments in New York and, when the story moves to the Scottish Highlands, the scenery becomes even more impossibly gorgeous, but this is really all about the surface. No-one really gets much chance to do any soul-searching and there's very little by way of character growth. Tom's friends all encourage him to be honest with Hannah, but with the underhand caveat to "steal the bride". Dempsey is much more believable when he's pursuing the bride-to-be in the second half than he is as a womanising man-ho in in the first half. The entire film is as frothy and empty as iridescent soapy bubbles, which is pretty much the point. It is entertaining, funny and eventually forgettable, though you will leave the cinema with a happy heart. If you liked My Best Friend's Wedding, 27 Dresses or Sweet Home Alabama you will like this
