| Show M. M u. u This Wedding Date Wont Won't W Catch Any Bouquets Teresa Wiltz The Washington Post Its It's an amusing premise the whole Pretty Woman reverse in-reverse thing Kat the addled heroine of The Wedding Date has nuptials to attend across the pond and no beau in sight Times Time's a so she dips into her the better better better bet bet- ter to hire Nick a model beau a Sensitive Man with witha a Comp Lit degree from Brown who just happens to earn a living toiling in the worlds world's oldest profession And so faster than you youcan youcan youcan can say frequent-flier frequent miles- miles or conspicuous product placement from Virgin Kat Atlantic Debra Messing and Nick Dermot are flying to London for her sisters sister's wedding where the ersatz couple will spend a weekend weekend weekend week week- end trying to convince Kats Kat's family and more important Kats Kat's ex that she and Nick are madly in love For any single woman who has ever faced the horror horror horror hor hor- of attending a wedding solo particularly when an anex anex anex ex is on the invite list its it's a tempting fantasy Rent a date Preferably one who's drop-dead drop fine and acts devoted on cue Amusing premise so not-so- amusing execution Little things get in the way of The Wedding Date directed by Clare Kilner little Kilner little things like oh a bad script stilted dialogue dialogue dialogue dia dia- logue an overwrought plot with a squirm inducing revelation revelation revelation rev rev- elation far too weighty forthe forthe for forthe the froth of a romantic comedy com com- edy and edy and a seriously obnoxious obnoxious ious heroine Its It's not Kats Kat's or Messing's fault that she's T obnoxious just drawn that way Heres Here's a woman who's clearly on the far side of 30 a grown woman who can obviously afford Nicks Nick's weekend tab but she persists in acting acting acting act act- ing like she's barely out of her teens yet another entry in a long line of stereotypical ical screeching singletons populating romantic comedies comedies comedies come come- dies these days Yes Renee aka Bridget Jones were we're talking to you Somewhere along the way studio suits decided that a romantic heroine had to be lovable which she does but that to be lovable she had to be a complete mess which she doesn't This notion is rooted inthe in inthe inthe the success of the adorably wacky heroines who were once the of oeuvre Meg Ryan from When Harry Met Sally to Sleepless in Seattle Ryan did cute and neurotic better than anyone But beneath the neurosis was a certain amount of strength not to mention sex appeal Her characters might find solace alphabetizing ng their video collections but she always played a woman comfortable with her own sexuality In other words a grown Kat on the other hand acts like a woman who's never seen herself naked let alone a man Nick steps out of th the shower and Kat is unexpectedly and unexpectedly and and literally- literally faced with his naughty bits She's instantly reduced to toa toa toa a seventh-grader seventh all over- over top the-top stammering and broad comic mugging This is a gag that could've worked in say 13 Going on 30 or perhaps in director director director tor Kilner's earlier effort the teen flick How to toDeal Deal But how much more effective if Kat had instead channeled Samantha jor Carrie from Sex and the City with a clever quip d J r o c z y 1 r tf f if l u n 5 4 1 a R 4 f P d da a Will and Grace star Debra Messing plays a woman traveling to London for her sisters sister's wedding Messing's character hires Dermot a male-escort male to pretend to be her boyfriend for the big event designed to take a man down to size so to speak But the clever quips are in short supply here There are attempts at as when Kat warns Nick early earlyon on You know those families families families lies that are crazy but by the end of the day you love them because they're family family family ly That's not my family Too bad the family never lives up to the as-advertised as madcap But mostly we have platitudes platitudes platitudes tudes served up with plodding plodding plodding plod plod- ding regularity by Nick I 1 think Id I'd miss you even if I never met you and The hardest thing in loving someone is letting them love love- you back co coNo No the hardest thing is watching and Messing try to feign any kind of chemistry too busy being saddled with the perfect perfect perfect per per- man cliche and Messing's too busy acting scattered and wounded forthe forthe for forthe the two ever to interact and ignite Dont Don't bother asking how howan an Ivy League guy would end up hooking for a living Such a query could only lead to some dark answers answers that the filmmakers have no interest in dealing with but which would make for a much more interesting movie than The Wedding in Date Q tet coming y at oming you at-you ou just tIme for movie date season J c could uld ever hope hop to be |
