THE WEDDING DATE
US, 2005, 90 minutes, Colour.
Debra Messing, Dermot Mulrooney, Amy Adams, Jack Davenport, Sarah Parrish, Jeremy Sheffield, Peter Egan, Holland Taylor.
Directed by Claire Kilner.
Some films are inconsequential. This one seems inconsequentially inconsequential.
With the popularity of wedding films (Wedding Planners, Singers, Crashers and Big Fat, Best Friend’s and Monsoon Weddings), this one has an audience out there. But, at just under 90 minutes and with whole chunks of dialogue that could have been further elaborated to make sense of the characters, their behaviour and their (fairly rapid, given the time frame of the wedding) life-decisions but are missing, this is the least satisfying of the wedding movies.
After a New York opening, the rest of the action takes place in London and the British countryside.
Debra Messing does her best with an odd part, a capable woman who goes to pieces when going to England for her sister’s wedding and, to spite her fiancé of many years who dumped her, hires a male escort for $6,000 to accompany her and falls in and out of love with him – with a number of tantrums along the way. Dermot Mulroney plays the escort as if he were the most charming, sympathetic and moral man in the whole world.
What actually happens is fairly farcical comedy: confessions, angers, chases, punch-ups, kiss and make-up. It is all a bit thin.
1. The popularity of this kind of film, for male audiences, female audiences? Target audience?
2. The mixture of romance, comedy? The plausibility of the situation, Kat and her hiring Nick? The consequences?
3. The New York opening, the New York atmosphere? The transition to the UK, the country estate? An authentic atmosphere? Musical score, songs?
4. The tone of the film, the exploration of character, comic situations, clashes, tears, romance? The basic plot of a woman hiring the male escort? So quickly falling in love? His falling in love so quickly and changing?
5. The portrait of Kat, desperation, getting ready to go to the wedding, the phone calls to Nick? The courier with the ticket? At the airport, the background of her job? In the plane, meeting Nick? The six thousand dollars? The discussions? Her reading his article, curious about him? His reassurances?
6. Nick, personality, profession? His calm attitude? Credible as a male escort? The escorting, the listening, sexuality, being paid?
7. The wedding situation, Amy getting married? The invitation? The strained relationships between Amy and Kat? Her having to meet Jeffrey, their long relationship, his breaking it off, her hiring Nick to spite him?
8. The arrival, Bunny and her fluttery style, as mother, as organising the wedding? Her love for Victor? Victor, the stepfather, his affection for Kat? His wise words?
9. The friends, T.J., the others, the fascination with Nick? The various parties, socials, rehearsals? The character of T.J. and her friendliness, her concern about Kat?
10. Amy, the tense relationship with Kat, her love for Edward? The revelation of her relationship with Jeffrey? Kat’s disappointment? Her anger at Nick not having told her? Her anger with Jeffrey? Her telling the truth to Edward, Edward as nice but not particularly knowledgable? His fight with Jeffrey? The reconciliation, Amy and Kat, Edward and Amy, the wedding going ahead?
11. The character of Jeffrey, the cad, the relationship with Kat, the years, breaking it off, the relationship with Amy, his being in love with her, wanting to talk to Kat, Nick finding out the truth? Edward pursuing him, fighting him?
12. The effect of the experience on Kat, Nick listening to her, their falling in love, the night together? The aftermath, her moodiness, her antagonism towards Nick, his going away? The return, the reconciliation, his being the best man?
13. The happy ever after – and the information about each of the characters, especially about Jeffrey having learnt nothing?
14. The popularity of this kind of film? Inconsequential – the basic moral tone, moral implications about relationships, love and the truth?
