McDreamy stars in the McDrippy cliche-fest otherwise known as “Made of Honor.”
From his first incarnation as a movie star two decades ago, to his popular stint on “Grey’s Anatomy” and his recent feature hit “Enchanted,” Patrick Dempsey has always been more of a charismatic screen presence than an actual actor. His limited range becomes a particular problem when he’s given thin material like today’s pale imitation of “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”
In that far more pointed Julia Roberts picture, the woman played the eleventh-hour wedding crasher. In “Made of Honor,” it’s the guy —Dempsey as the smoothie stud Tom — who decides that his longtime platonic gal pal is really the love of his life. But, of course, he doesn’t “man up” until just as she’s about to walk down the aisle with someone else.
Weakly directed by Paul Weiland and even more lamely written by a committee of at least three, the piece rips off more than the Roberts “Wedding.” It dredges up nearly every romantic-comedy banality involving a soon-to-be-tamed womanizer and angelically perfect wife-to-be found in the worst modern examples of the genre.
Given the failings of the cookie-cutter plot and mostly amateurish dialogue, the only hope for the audience would be the chemistry between the main couple.
But McDreamy plays such a misogynist early in the proceedings that you can’t really root for him later, no matter how physically attractive the man portraying him may be. And, unfortunately, while Michelle Monaghan (“Gone Baby Gone”) has functioned well as a dramatic actress in supporting roles, she doesn’t radiate the necessary “sparkle” factor to carry this kind of light fare.
She plays Hannah, Tom’s best buddy, about to wed a rich Scotsman. The burly Kevin McKidd, of HBO’s intense miniseries “Rome,” is well-cast in that part.
If only there had been some fresh, observant wit about man-woman courtship to go along with that sidebar humor about the Scots and some good-looking production values. But this “Honor” was not “Made” to order.
‘Made of Honor’
Two Stars
