STUDIO: Sony
RELEASE DATE: September 16, 2008
STARRING: Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Kathleen Quinlan, and Sydney Pollack
WRITTEN BY: Adam Sztykiel and Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont
DIRECTED BY: Paul Weiland
FEATURES: Director's Commentary

Before we really get going with the actual film, I need to get something off my chest. Made of Honor is one of those DVDs that includes standard and widescreen versions on the same disc. When you hit "Play Movie", two shots come up of a couple on a bridge in Central Park and you are asked to choose between widescreen and full frame. The comparison is shocking. The widescreen version shows SO much more detail that anyone who clicks on the full frame version next to it should have the DVD burst into flames. I can't believe anyone would want half of the visual information that make up a film, even one that may not be a visual masterpiece like Made of Honor. It blows my mind. Go watch TV, which is often shot in full frame, and leave the movies to people who care what their entertainment looks like.

There's an interesting trend in romantic comedies that may have always been there under the surface but seems much more blatant in 2008. Nice guys have to be lovable losers, the kind of schlubs played by Simon Pegg (Run Fatboy Run), Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), or Seth Rogen. The pretty boys in romantic comedies? Total jerks like the kind that Ashton Kutcher played in What Happens in Vegas or Patrick Dempsey plays in Made of Honor, now on DVD. Okay, maybe Tom, Dempsey's character in MOH, isn't quite a total jerk, but he's not far from it. He's a cad, a guy who sleeps around and has an extensive series of rules that keep him from getting close to any of his conquests. But he does have one close female in his life - Hannah (the lovely Michelle Monaghan). When Hannah leaves for Scotland for six weeks and comes back with a fiance (Kevin McKidd), Tom self-discovers that he's in love with his best friend and always has been. Hannah asks Tom to be his "maid of honor" and the poor guy has to deal with crazy bridesmaids, wedding showers, and bad hair days, all while trying to win his true love away from a charming Scotsman. Sydney Pollack and Kathleen Quinlan are completely wasted in supporting roles.

Monaghan is charming and there's a chance that Dempsey could work in better material but Made of Honor falls victim to an awful screenplay that doesn't just employ romantic comedy cliches it practically wallows in them. The biggest problem is that the writers never telegraph why we should care about Tom, a guy who has slept with hundreds of women and is just now about to grow up. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him because he can only say I love you to dogs and not women? Why aren't we supposed to think he's a jerk? Dempsey does his best to make him appealing but it's a tough sell and the script does him no favors. One of the most loving looks on Tom's face, the moment when he truly realizes how much he loves Hannah and the strings rise on the soundtrack, happens to be when he's spying on her trying on lingerie. Ewww. And the script is shockingly culturally insensitive. All Scottish people eat gross things, kill their own food, have bad hairdos, and, of course, play bagpipes. There just isn't enough surprising about Made of Honor and what does come out of left field is bad writing that you wish would go back there.