Made of Honor – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

There seems to a recent trend that Hollywood and screenplay writers are hoping will catch on when it comes to releasing romantic comedies. We all know that the genre is the most tired and worn-out type of film going today. However, we have seen so many chick flicks being presented in reverse. Usually romantic comedies are told through the perspective of the woman, but films like Definitely, Maybe have flipped that idea around and have told the standard romantic comedy story through the eyes of the man. It’s refreshing for sure, but it doesn’t always work. Next to attempt to be a fresh and unique entry in the romantic comedy genre by attempting to reverse roles is Made of Honor.

In Made of Honor, Patrick Dempsey plays Tom, a womanizing jerk who has a platonic relationship with his female best friend Hannah (Michelle Monaghan). Together, they have a great time. It’s almost like a relationship, except no sex. When Hannah goes to Scotland for her work for six weeks, Tom realizes how much he misses her and has feelings for her. When Hannah returns engaged to a Scotsman named Colin (Kevin McKidd), she asks Tom to be her “maid of honor”. The rest of the film has Tom trying to make Hannah see that she’s making a mistake, and that he really loves her.

On the surface, the idea behind this film looks unique. Hardly anyone has heard of a male “maid of honor” before this film, but it actually does make sense in today’s world. Unforunately, once you scratch the surface and dig in deep you see that the story of this film is pretty predictable and like every other romantic comedy before it. In fact, this film could actually be considered the male version of a similar film, My Best Friend’s Wedding. But overall the film is not really funny. It tries hard with the rude and crude humor that will appeal to the Judd Apatow crowd, but that’s all it does. It pales in comparison to Apatow’s films, and as a result you can clearly see that they are trying to force the comedy out, rather than letting it come naturally.

What saves this film, though, is the acting. Patrick Dempsey is charming and he is at his best in this comedy. Michelle Monaghan is your sweet “girl-next-door” type, but she has good chemistry with Dempsey. The rest of the cast is not fantastic or anything, but the supporting characters, minus a few annoying characters that is only there for unfunny laughs, are not totally terrible. Some might even argue that the only reason this film was made was because Patrick Dempsey is “McDreamy” and fans of Grey’s Anatomy are mostly women and they will go see any movie he stars in.
That is probably not totally off base after watching this film.

Fortunately, Patrick Dempsey does his job and basically saves Made of Honor from being unwatchable. Sony Pictures hoped that they could pull off the successful and refreshing “chick flick-in-reverse” story that Definitely, Maybe was able to do. But Made of Honor is far too cliched, predictable, unfunny, and similar to every other standard romantic comedy before it. It’s not the worse romantic comedy out there, but it’s nothing more than average despite how extremely attractive it looked from the outside.

The video is given in both 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen color, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs, and 1.33:1 fullscreen color. The video is good and comparable to other new release DVDs. Not the best video, but there are no major problems at all.

The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound or French 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English and French as well. The dialogue and music come out loud and clear, so no major problems here either.

Audio Commentary
This is a full-length commentary with the director of the film, Paul Weiland. He is basically the biggest fan of this film. He provides a little information about making the film, but it is not that entertaining. It really is nothing more than a “fluffy cheerleading” commentary.

Patrick Dempsey fans will love this film and want to buy it. Even Michelle Monaghan fans will love this as well and want to buy it. Romantic comedy fans will want to rent this at least, but I can’t really recommend it for anyone not falling into those three categories. Overall, only a few laughs and great performances don’t make this anything more than your typical romantic comedy.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………



Sony Picture Home Entertainment presents Made of Honor. Directed by Paul Weiland. Written by Adam Sztykiel, Deborah Kaplan, and Harry Elfont. Starring Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Kadeem Hardison, Kathleen Quinlan, and Sydney Pollack. Running time: 101 minutes. Rated: PG-13. Released on DVD: September 16, 2008.
Available at Amazon.com.

I'm not embarrassed to say that my favorite television show of all-time is The O.C. I live by the motto "you can't fight fate!" More importantly, I watch WAY too much television, but I do so for the benefit of everyone reading this now. So to my mom and my wife, I say thanks for reading! To everyone else that might stumble across this, remember TiVo should be your best friend!