Tom (Patrick Dempsey) is a commitment-phobic, marriage-avoiding playboy who spends most of his waking hours tomcatting around Manhattan (what a novel concept for a romantic comedy). Only Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), his "best friend" of ten years, has the strength of character to call him on his shallowness - even though anyone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of romantic comedy knows full well that the two of them are just made for each other (apparently, the only people in these situations stupid enough not to realize this universal truth are the couples themselves). But just as Tom decides he's in love with Hannah and is willing to make a lifelong commitment to her, the latter turns up engaged to a kilt-wearing dreamboat ("Rome"'s Kevin McKidd) she met in Scotland. Unaware of how Tom feels about her, Hannah asks him to be her "maid of honor" at the wedding, a role he reluctantly accepts, believing that this will place him in the perfect strategic position to sabotage the nuptials.
As with virtually all romantic comedies these days, "Made of Honor" takes place in a squeaky-clean, never-never land version of New York City, where everyone attends swanky functions, dines at five-star restaurants, and drinks café mocha lattes, with nary a hint as to what any of these fantastically well-off characters do to earn all their money. And, of course, almost everyone we meet is white (with a token African-American or two, as always, thrown in for good measure).
The late Sydney Pollack plays Tom's oft-married father, whose penchant for running through women at an alarming rate shows that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in that family. And, of course, Tom is surrounded by the obligatory coterie of jock friends who discuss women, commitment and sex with all the depth and maturity of a bunch of junior-high school students feeling their first stirrings of puberty. Yet, isn't it funny watching all these macho guys fixing gift baskets and discussing wedding plans? No, not really.
It's safe to say that there's not a single moment in "Made of Honor" that doesn't feel utterly manufactured and desperately contrived. Add to that an annoyingly cutesy musical score, embarrassment-evoking slapstick routines - including the desperate Tom arriving late to the wedding astride a borrowed horse, no less! - gag-inducing sentimentality, and the kind of ending we thought "The Graduate" had so brilliantly put an end to forty-some-odd years ago.
Thus, despite the story's being told from a man's viewpoint for a change, at the end of the day, it's still the same old romantic comedy hooey we've been subjected to from time immemorial.
As with virtually all romantic comedies these days, "Made of Honor" takes place in a squeaky-clean, never-never land version of New York City, where everyone attends swanky functions, dines at five-star restaurants, and drinks café mocha lattes, with nary a hint as to what any of these fantastically well-off characters do to earn all their money. And, of course, almost everyone we meet is white (with a token African-American or two, as always, thrown in for good measure).
The late Sydney Pollack plays Tom's oft-married father, whose penchant for running through women at an alarming rate shows that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in that family. And, of course, Tom is surrounded by the obligatory coterie of jock friends who discuss women, commitment and sex with all the depth and maturity of a bunch of junior-high school students feeling their first stirrings of puberty. Yet, isn't it funny watching all these macho guys fixing gift baskets and discussing wedding plans? No, not really.
It's safe to say that there's not a single moment in "Made of Honor" that doesn't feel utterly manufactured and desperately contrived. Add to that an annoyingly cutesy musical score, embarrassment-evoking slapstick routines - including the desperate Tom arriving late to the wedding astride a borrowed horse, no less! - gag-inducing sentimentality, and the kind of ending we thought "The Graduate" had so brilliantly put an end to forty-some-odd years ago.
Thus, despite the story's being told from a man's viewpoint for a change, at the end of the day, it's still the same old romantic comedy hooey we've been subjected to from time immemorial.