Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney star in a romantic comedy that struggles to capture the charm and ebullience of Four Weddings and a Funeral.
The Wedding Date (2005)
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Reviews Counted:135
Fresh:14
Rotten:121
Average Rating:3.8/10
Consensus: Critics are leaving The Wedding Date at the alter, calling it shopworn, bland, and lightweight.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual content including dialogue
Runtime: 90 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Feb 4, 2005 Wide
Synopsis: Kat Ellis's (Debra Messing) worst nightmare is about to come true. Not only is her younger, half-sister, Amy (Amy Adams), getting married before her, but to add insult to injury, the groom's (Jack... Kat Ellis's (Debra Messing) worst nightmare is about to come true. Not only is her younger, half-sister, Amy (Amy Adams), getting married before her, but to add insult to injury, the groom's (Jack Davenport) best man is Kat's ex-fiancée, Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield). Two years after being dumped, Kat is a single New Yorker and can't bear to attend the festivities at her parent's London home alone, so she does the next best thing: she hires an escort to play her boyfriend. Her rented date, Nick (Dermot Mulroney), fits the bill perfectly. He's handsome, intelligent, well spoken, intuitive, and a perfect gentleman--a virtual bargain at $6,000. The plan? Make Kat's ex sorry that he ever let her go. But the plan takes a turn when Kat finds herself attracted to Nick, and the feeling seems to be mutual. But will their business arrangement stand in the way of a relationship? And just what is it that Kat's ex has been dying to tell her? Messing is endearing as Kat, who seems to be simultaneously bewildered and bemused by her situation. Mulroney, meanwhile, is at his most charming as Nick. Clare Kilner (HOW TO DEAL) directs this romantic comedy set in London and the English countryside, which also features Holland Taylor as Kat's slightly overbearing mother and Peter Egan as her loving stepfather. Sarah Parish is a hoot as the sisters' bawdy British cousin. [More]
Starring: Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, Jack Davenport, Holland Taylor
Starring: Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, Jack Davenport, Holland Taylor, Jeremy Sheffield, Sarah Jannett Parish
Director: Clare Kilner
Director: Clare Kilner
Screenwriter: Dana Fox
Producer: Paul Brooks, Michelle Chyzdik, Nathalie Marciano
Studio: Universal Pictures
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Reviews for The Wedding Date
This is a wedding date that would have benefited from a different designer, a more knowing caterer, and -- most of all -- a whole new guest list.
Mulroney, best known as the title character in Roberts' comedy My Best Friend's Wedding, is by far the best thing about this gaggingly unromantic comedy. His character's bio, divulged in a thumbnail, is the least convincing thing.
It's all the actors can do to race through their lines before their gag reflexes kick in.
It’s telling that we don’t find Messing’s character worthy of a male prostitute’s love.
Scenes don't build momentum, and I don't think I've ever seen a feature where so many lines of dialogue were delivered by actors hovering off-screen or standing with their backs to the camera.
Dana Fox's script is all setup, skimping on the quirky character touches and comedic flourishes that could make a predictable outcome gratifying.
All the romantic comedy gloss in the world can't save a script as stale as last week's wedding cake.
Too bad the filmmakers felt compelled to give this sufficiently charming doodle some emotional heft by veering into Four Weddings and a Funeral territory. It only distracts you from The Wedding Date's own modest charms.
A tossed bouquet full of dead flowers and bad jokes that belongs in the nearest trash receptacle.
Focus-grouped to such a precise dot that everyone in the audience will not only be able to name each brand of luggage the characters use, but will do so with joy and pride.
Messing and Mulroney have wonderful chemistry -- too bad they frequently have it long before their characters should.
The film is made by women, which just goes to show female moviemakers are equally capable of insulting female audiences.
...plays like a hollow and manipulative gimmicky Lifetime channel television movie. Alertly, one should decline the cheeky invitation to this senseless ceremonial event
Yearn, dammit! the movie screams at you, as you turn your eyes to the wristwatch and lament that, like Kat, you've just wasted your money.
The Wedding Date’s ending is one of the most contrived in recent memory...
The shenanigans that first-time screenwriter Dana Cox concocts from this lame scenario fluctuate from stupid to lazy and back to dull
There’s no cliché from any romantic comedy of the past twenty years that this movie isn’t afraid to borrow, water down, and then recycle.
Flashes of engagement mired in starry-eyed pabulum with a bubble-gum score to match.
So many body parts from other engineered romantic comedies have been crudely harvested and stitched together in the making of this weird robotic lark that Maid of Honor of Frankenstein might be more useful a nickname.
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