Customer Reviews

The Wedding Date

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

While the plot may seem implausible, I really enjoyed this movie. Since I love all types of movies (documentary, action, comedy, drama, etc.), I saw this movie for what it was...an enjoyable way to spend some time. If you are looking for light-hearted entertainment that doesn't require you to think, then this movie fits the bill. Dermot Mulroney is great as the suave date bought by Debra Messing's character. And Messing shines as the woman who blossoms during her courtship with her date. And for those who think she's too beautiful to need to buy a date, they haven't seen the many beautiful single women of the world. Not all movies are meant to be deep and thought-provoking, some are just meant to make you smile...and this movie delivers.

The Wedding Date is a romantic comedy, and to do that formula well you either have to do the formula perfectly with perfectly cast leads or you have to come up with a unique angle. The Wedding Date tries both.

Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney make a good-looking couple. All of the women in this movie and all the women at my house were swooning over Mr. Mulroney who looks like he just stepped off the cover of one of those passionate-embracing romance novels. Ms. Messing has the looks and timing to pull off her role, which requires a decent amount of suspension of disbelief. She comes from a well-off family, but in the opening scenes we see that she is a supervisor of working stiffs. Her sister is getting married over in England and her ex-fiancee, who painfully dumped her a few years ago, is the best man. She wants to impress all the right people so she hires professional escort Mr. Mulroney - for $6,000. That is an expensive date, and I don't know any regular people who would pay anything close to that simply to impress an ex.

But we swallow that and watch the film for what it is. Debra and Dermot are likable and attractive. Sarah Parish delivers most of the best lines in the movie as saucy cousin TJ. Jack Davenport gives a strong performance as the groom - the one marrying the sister. More than even the lead characters, his world is turned upside down in the rapid-fire final act, and more than the other characters I found myself hoping that things will work out for him. Peter Egan plays Dad in a way full of fatherly love and mature wisdom.

As long as you can accept Debra Messing as a woman who would have to pay a man $6,000 to pretend to be her date, this may be the Romantic Comedy for this week.

Fresh point of view puts sizzle in story that could've been sappy

Like romance in the real world, "The Wedding Date" is part laughs and part tears.

Director Clare Kilner isn't interested in squeezing every possible gag out of every scene. Certainly, the situation that Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) finds herself in - a single woman who hires a man to pose as her date for a family wedding - is loaded with comic possibilities. But the movie also recognizes Kat's pain, embarrassment and anger.

It's this darker undercurrent that makes "The Wedding Date" more than a bubble-gum soap opera.

When we first meet her, Kat seems to be wigging out over the prospect of flying to Britain for her sister's wedding. Her situation is actually worse. The sister is a self-absorbed nightmare. The best man, Jeffrey, is Kat's ex-fiance and the man who broke her heart.

The last thing Kat wants to do is show up without a guy. So, she employs a male escort, Nick Mercer (Dermot Mulroney), to pretend to be her boyfriend. Kat and Nick must convince her friends and family that they are crazy in love and make Jeffrey sorry he ever left Kat.

The trip is about Kat getting over her past, and Nick allowing himself to feel love. Events take an unexpected and dark twist before everything is put to rights.

The big rap against Messing, star of the TV series "Will & Grace," is that she plays Kat as Grace Adler without Will. We still don't know if Messing can do more than look adorable and take pratfalls.

Mulroney played Julia Roberts' crush in 1997's "My Best Friend's Wedding." He was good-looking back then, but now he's beyond hot. Mulroney gives Nick a smoldering, sexy aloofness leavened with charm and a tendency to spout aphorisms about life and love.

Messing and Mulroney are surrounded by a strong supporting cast of American and British actors.

Holland Taylor plays Kat's outspoken mother, Bunny Ellis. British actress Sarah Parish is hilarious as Kat's randy and uninhibited friend, T.J. American actress Amy Adams is pitch-perfect as the spoiled sister Amy.

Kilner and screenplay writer Dana Fox bring a female point of view to "The Wedding Date." They aren't afraid to let the darker elements overshadow the humor when the story demands it, and they really explore Kat's emotional journey.

Thank goodness author Elizabeth Young's book, "Asking for Trouble," on which the film is based, wasn't turned into a "Porky's"-style sex comedy.

So many romantic comedies are tired and predictable, because they are about two people who the audience knows will be together by the end. "The Wedding Date" starts with two people who are a couple for the wrong reasons and lets us watch them couple up for the right reasons.

Pour the champagne and toast "The Wedding Date."

A wonderful romantic comedy. Yes, we've seen similar stories before, however this one is a very nice one. Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney are extremely charming together in this film. I can't wait to get the dvd.
It was also fun to see the roles reversed a little in this one. The female lead was playing the role the leading man would usually be in, and the male lead here was playing the "sex object" part that would usually be forced on the actress. So, I thought it was a refreshing difference.

It is rare these days to go to a movie that doesnt have obscene language and violence. This is a terrific movie. I enjoyed every second and wanted to see it again. Dermot Mulroney is a very underrated actor, but in this movie hes just great. He has very good chemistry with Debra Messing and together they make this movie so enjoyable. Do yourself a favor and see it.

From the opening search for a date until Dermot Mulroney (Nick) first appears on the screen I was totally absorbed. The movie has a couple of spots where editing could have been better. But, pairing Messing and Mulroney in this romance comedy was a stroke of genius. Debra Messing (Kat)has a natural comedic timing and Dermont Mulroney..... well Father Time has certainly been kind to him. He oozes sex appeal and it is easy to believe he is an escort. The supporting cast is also good with their bent toward British humor. The movie provides a full 90 minutes of entertainment. Too bad they didn't develop a CD of the music because it was perfect. Buy and enjoy!

This movie was great. Some people are saying that it's similar to Pretty Woman and I guess it sort of is, but on it's own this movie was hysterical and romantic. I recommend that every woman out there goes and rents or even buys this movie. You won't regret it!

I just had to write a review for the first time in my life. I have read many of the reviews on this movie, mostly mainstream newspaper reviews and I have to say that men should not be allowed in general to critique a 'chick flick'. They have no idea what we like, it was delightful escapsism from the drudgery of everyday life. It is not meant to be on the level of Shakespeare and I am tired of spotty faced little Herberts giving rotten reviews to movies that they will never understand, they need to get a date first. Have they looked in the mirror lately, I took my 78 year old neighbor to see the movie, and halfway through she turned to me to utter the famous words "that Dermot Mulroney's very sexy, isn't he". Coming from a lady who's fire has probably not been lit for a very long time, I thought was recommendation indeed. Mulroney and Messing worked really well as a romantic couple and had real chemistry. I will be buying the DVD for my sister and mother who did not get to see the movie, I know it will make their day. I came out of the movie feeling happy and looking forward to seeing my husband, so I say Yeah!!! for the Wedding Date....

How about a little Pretty Woman reversal? Anyone? Oh yes, the formula is tried and trued, but gender flip-flopping is enough to call it "new" - or so says Hollywood. It is actually pretty good. Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney were perfect (and believable) as a couple, and the chemistry was definitely there. A couple scenes were a little... over the top, and there was a bit of drama, but it was still a good romance. The only thing I would change is the beginning as it kind of just throws you into the story so that you feel like you missed something. Overall, a good movie to see on a date or for a night out with a few of your girlfriends!

I give this film a solid 5 stars. Its humour and wit had me rolling on the floor. Messing and Mulroney worked brilliantly together.