Made Of Honor (2008) by Rae

Directed by: Paul Weiland
Written by: Adam Sztykiel/Deborah Kaplan/Harry Elfont

The trailers for the new movie Made of Honor have not been very inspiring. I want to like this new romantic comedy with Patrick Dempsey but from the snippets I have seen I get the vague notion that I have seen this movie before. It does not inspire much confidence, but maybe it will be fine. Maybe they will surprise me. Maybe…..

So there’s this guy see and he is a typical playboy in that he only wants to hang out with his friends, drink beer and pick up a different girl every weekend. The “twist” is that typical-playboy-guy’s best friend happens to be a girl. She is all cool and pretty at the same time. She can hang with the boys or go shopping with the girl and be just as comfortable either way. And did I mention she’s pretty? Oh, but it’s not like that; of course not. Typical-playboy-guy and fabulous-best-friend-girl are just that; friends. Really. I mean dating her would be like dating your sister or something….well…until fabulous-best-friend-girl leaves on business for a few weeks and typical-playboy-guy realizes he misses her and…(wait for it)…actually…loves her?!? Of course, typical-playboy-guy decides to declare his love when fabulous-best-friend-girl returns, but, obviously she introduces him to the guy she just met on her business trip and decided to get engaged to; enter archetypal-romantic-comedy-complication-character. Fabulous-best-friend-girl asks typical-playboy-guy to be her “maid” of honor (he is her bestest friend after all) and typical-playboy-guy accepts because maybe the best way to break up the impending marriage between fabulous-best-friend-girl and archetypal-romantic-comedy-complication-character is from the inside.

WHEW!!

Do you feel like you have seen all this before? Well, that’s because you have; probably about 1,000 times before. I wish I could tell you that Made of Honor is able to do something new with this oldest of love stories, provide a new wrinkle, a new character, plot twist, a new joke even, but I can’t. Not even Patrick Dempsey’s 1980’s romantic comedy charm or his newly bestowed McDreamy status can save this tired, old plot. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to like this. I am a sap for romantic comedies, but there are so many others out there that have followed a basic formula and made good on it. This is not one of those standouts. In fact, I think that if it had not been for Mr. McDreamy, the studio might have gone straight to DVD with this one instead of taking up room in your local megaplex right at the start of the summer blockbuster season.

However, Columbia Pictures has decided to open Made of Honor on the same weekend as Iron Man. But, maybe this suicidal marketing strategy has a purpose. Maybe they are hoping that all the men out there will go see Iron Man while their significant female others (who would obviously never want to see that film) go across the lobby to see the new romantic comedy. Maybe Columbia knows that this film is not very strong, but thinks that if they release it this weekend they can just blame the poor box office on Iron Man smashing all the competition. Or maybe, just maybe, the PG-13 rating speaks for itself. That must be their target audience; 13-year-old girls, because they are the only age group I can think of that has not been going to the movies long enough to have to say “hey, haven’t I seen this before?” Maybe.

-Rae Anderson