Overall Rating Awesome: 11.11% Worth A Look: 6.35% Average: 11.11% Pretty Bad: 57.14% Total Crap: 14.29% 5 reviews, 33 user ratings

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Wedding Date, The

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by Lybarger

"A great excuse for staying single."

"The Wedding Date" starts off with a risky setup but still feels curiously lifeless. Despite toying with prostitution, an idyllic British setting and family dysfunctions, screenwriter Dana Fox and director Claire Kilner manage to drain anything witty, romantic or even interesting from the final film.

In addition, it gives "Will and Grace" star Debra Messing a chance to demonstrate that keeping our day jobs is often a really wise move.

In a role that's too close to her sitcom roots, Messing plays Kat Ellis, a somewhat neurotic woman who's headed from New York to her sister's wedding in England. While most folks might enjoy a change of scenery, Kat has reason for dreading the trip. She and rest of her family can't stand each other, and the best man is her slimy ex-boyfriend Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield).

To make the journey and the destination slightly more bearable, Kat recruits a "male escort" named Nick Mercer (Dermot Mulroney). It's a bit of a stretch to believe a woman with Messing's appearance couldn't find a suitable date without hefty cash incentives, and Fox and Kilner do very little to make the setup credible or compelling.

Kilner's leaden pacing makes the 90-minute running time seem much longer, and Fox (working from Elizabeth Young's novel Asking for Trouble) populates the cast with several quirky British characters who have thin to non-existent personalities.

Whereas screenwriter Richard Curtis ("Love Actually," "Notting Hill") has made a career out of pairing Yanks with goofy Brits, Fox gives the folks on the other side of the Atlantic almost nothing to do. It also doesn't help that her gags aren't that funny.

What makes "The Wedding Date" spectacularly lackluster is that Messing and Mulroney have no chemistry. "Pretty Woman" had a similarly seamy premise but was redeemed by the fact that Richard Gere and Julia Roberts play off each beautifully. Messing makes a valiant effort and does have a knack for physical comedy.

The normally solid Mulroney (who's used to much better effect in "About Schmidt" and "Undertow") strolls through the film projecting a sense of indifference. To his credit, he seems to know that the material is wanting (even Alec Guinness couldn't do much with this one), but his doubts become contagious to viewers.

When "The Wedding Date" reaches its foregone conclusion, the effect is about like discovering that the person you've walked down the aisle with wants to spend the honeymoon watching TV alone.

Romantic comedies require a little bit of wit and love. Cute couples going through the motions is something we can see without shelling out nine or ten dollars.

link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11581&reviewer=382
originally posted: 02/11/05 00:26:02

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User Comments

7/08/19 Charles Tatum Someone check the cutting room floor for the rest of this film 2 stars

8/20/18 Suzanne Dermot rocks this role - so dreamy 4 stars

4/12/09 Ali I Love this movie! I have watched it about 4 times. It's a funny and cute movie. 5 stars

12/30/08 jhwallacejr have seen this movie 3 times...very sweet and funny movie 5 stars

11/16/08 PAUL SHORTT AN EPIC COMIC MISCALCULATION 1 stars

10/29/07 mb Nice and cute romantic movie. Very enjoyable. 4 stars

8/27/07 veronica More men should look and sound like DERMOT! I can watch this film over and over 5 stars

5/19/07 David Pollastrini lots of hot women in this! 3 stars

4/18/07 David Pollastrini Some hot women in this! 3 stars

12/12/06 William Goss Staggeringly unoriginal, unfunny, and unnecessary. 1 stars

7/03/06 Sally Sanders Loved It! Dermot's character is to die for! 5 stars

4/17/06 Pat great movie.loved dermot 5 stars

3/13/06 Roderick Cromar It's all a bit far-fetched. And not at all funny. 2 stars

3/08/06 Katie Pretty funny romantic comedy 3 stars

2/10/06 Carolyn Rathburn luscious, I loved it, the romance, surprisingly funny 5 stars

10/27/05 Polly Bloggs the worst movie i have ever seen.. seriously 1 stars

9/21/05 KRISTIN LUGO I THOUGHT THIS FILM GAVE A REAL LIFE LOOK OF WHAT WOMEN GO THROUGH WITH MEN. 4 stars

9/20/05 Jonathon Holmes Zzzzzzzzz 1 stars

8/19/05 ES a reverse pretty woman, but in the end she wasn't rich and he was just unemployed 3 stars

5/21/05 Kellie It doesn't take the time to fully develop the relationships--but fun enough if it's cheap. 2 stars

4/13/05 hopefully debra will take off her pants for her next movie... OTHERWISE WE'LL JUST SEE DEBRA MESSING IN HER PANTS AGAIN! 3 stars

4/12/05 Could've been average, but..... Never a good sign when printed end messages target a character for villification! 2 stars

2/26/05 Brandy I loved it. Great romance. 5 stars

2/18/05 Missy Mc I liked it, but not for guys. Total chick flick. 4 stars

2/17/05 crandall101 nice to see once 3 stars

2/14/05 KCobain No way! 1 stars

2/10/05 Uncle Salty What do I like about romantic comedies? Killing myself. Fuck anyone remotely responsible. 1 stars

2/09/05 Kelly Greenwood I thought it stunk 2 stars

2/08/05 Steve Michaud Bland and unoriginal; a romantic comedy without many laughs or genuine romance 2 stars

2/08/05 Richard Linxwiler I liked it 3 stars

2/06/05 Gray this movie cost me a girlfriend fuck it and everyone involved in it's creation 1 stars

2/06/05 Cassandra Farrar not even close to being good 1 stars

2/05/05 Kristina Williams Messing is NO Roberts...and that aint saying much. 1 stars

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
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USA 04-Feb-2005 (PG-13) DVD: 16-Aug-2005 UK N/A Australia 26-May-2005

Directed by Clare Kilner Written by Dana Fox Cast Debra Messing Dermot Mulroney Amy Adams Peter Egan Holland Taylor Jeremy Sheffield

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