Made of Honor

Made of Honor casts Patrick Dempsey as Tom, a wealthy playboy who eventually comes to realize that he possesses more than just platonic feelings for his best friend Hannah (Michelle Monaghan). Trouble ensues after Hannah returns from a business trip engaged to a handsome Scot (Kevin McKidd’s Colin), which essentially forces Tom to step up his efforts at telling Hannah how he really feels. The familiarity of Made of Honor‘s premise proves to be the least of its problems, as screenwriters Adam Sztykiel, Deborah Kaplan, and Harry Elfont have infused the proceedings with several increasingly uninteresting and flat-out superfluous sequences that’ll test the patience of even the most ardent romcom aficionado. The almost disastrously off-kilter structure results in a pace that tends to move in fits and starts, and there eventually reaches a point at which moments of a less-than-enthralling nature start to heavily outweigh anything of interest – with the film’s surprisingly sluggish third-act jaunt to Scotland (and subsequent emphasis on royal encounters and traditional feats of strength) bringing the proceedings to a virtual stop. This is despite the effortlessly charismatic work of the various leads and an opening half hour that seems to promise an easy-going, light-hearted romp, as the absurdly overlong running time ultimately transforms Made of Honor into an unexpectedly oppressive piece of work.

*1/2 out of ****