Credit: www.impawards.com
Director:
Clare Kilner
Starring:
Debra Messing……….Kat Ellis
Dermot Mulroney……….Nick Mercer
Amy Adams……….Amy
Sarah Parish……….T.J.
Jeremy Sheffield……….Jeff
Jack Davenport……….Edward Fletcher-Wooten
Peter Egan……….Victor Ellis
Holland Taylor……….Bunny
Universal Pictures presents The Wedding Date. Written by Dana Fox. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for sexual content including dialogue).
Typically, when one watches a comedy in a darkened theater with a group of strangers laughing shold be on the agenda; maybe not gut-busting guffawing, but a few giggles at least. In a movie that bills itself as “the season’s most romantic comedy,” the punchlines were hushed and the crowd was disconnected.
Here’s the lowdown for The Wedding Date. Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) is a British woman living in New York, who must fly back to her hometown of London to attend her younger sister’s wedding. But she is perturbed by the fact that her ex-fiance, Jeff, is the best man to the groom-to-be. Weighing her options, Kat decides on hiring a male escort to act as her fiance in some sort of two-prong assault. She wants Jeff to be jealous of her newfound love; and she wants to appear as neither pathetic nor unattached in front of her wacky family.
Dermot Mulroney plays Nick Mercer, the $6,000 male escort (or is it gigolo?) Kat hires for the week. He’s debonair, flattering the ladies with his comforting, ego-building lines of wisdom. “It’s not about the sex,” he says, “it’s about what people need.” Kat is so dumbfounded by his astuteness that she murmurs, “You’re like the Yoda of escorts.” Nick doesn’t say much, liking to keep a low profile; but his million-dollar good looks qualify him as “easy on the eyes” to the female gender.
Mulroney’s male escort with a heart of gold characterization is a shining example of a talented actor that is underutilized in Hollywood. His filmography reads like a guy who can’t get a leg up in La-la land. His career is littered with throwaway roles and only a few noteworthy performances. His performance as the husband-to-be in My Best Friend’s Wedding is fun, but gets eclipsed by Rupert Everett’s flamboyance. For Alexander Payne’s About Schmidt, Mulroney sheds his dashing looks in favor of a mullet hairdo. Sure the women may have been disappointed, but the unattractiveness and lighthearted nature of his role was appealing.
The next best thing to Dermot Mulroney’s character is Kat’s cousin T.J. Played by Sarah Parish, T.J. is a lively free spirited soul who can be as crude as a bar full of sailors. Her behavior is comparable to that of Hugh Grant’s roommate in Notting Hill. She constantly thinks about sex while holding a cigarette in one hand and her drink of choice in the other. When T.J. sees Nick for the very first time she delivers an off-the-cuff remark that you wouldn’t expect. While Messing’s character is wimpy and insipid, T.J. is a welcomed surprise as the tough and witty relative.
Debra Messing from TV’s Will & Grace takes a misstep playing Kat. Let me get this straight. Kat was raised in London before moving to the States. She brings her emotional baggage but not an English accent. Weird. Of course, this just may be a minor quibble involving the meticulousness of this film. This role doesn’t suit Messing. It’s as if she was trying to recreate the magic of her Grace Adler character from the hit television comedy. Next time, look at Will Smith for an idea of how to get free from a TV persona and make an impact. Smith’s performance as a gay con man in Six Degrees of Separation is a prime example of thinking outside the TV box.
The Wedding Date is what happens when you try to combine the thoughts and ideas of so many others. The story crams pieces of My Best Friend’s Wedding, Pretty Woman, and a few other romantic comedies into one big mess. The writing is trite, save for the rational male escort Nick. Too bad first time screenwriter, Dana Fox, doesn’t have an ear for dialogue. If she did she could develop situations for her characters that aren’t implausible. For instance, the idea that Kat and Nick hit it off so early in the film with little or no squabbling is slightly far-fetched. The backstory between Kat and her sister Amy and their involvement with the same man is too formulaic – like it came out of a “romantic comedy made easy” handbook.
With bad writing, come bad jokes. The romantic comedy has a sense of humor, the problem is finding it. It’s never a good sign when jokes are forced on the audience as if they were willing volunteers of a laugh track. The movie has its normal assortment of stereotypical crazy relatives and fun wedding activities; but the relatives are shallow – except for Kat’s stepfather who she refers to as the “hostage” of the family – and the activities are inconsequential.
Simply put, Mulroney’s character, Nick, drives the film. Even as the rest of the film falters in its absurdity, the male escort indeed shows why he’s worth every penny.
