MADE OF HONOR

Where is it playing?: Downtown Centre, Park, Stadium 10

What's it rated?: PG-13

What's it worth?: $4.00

Tom (Patrick Dempsey) had one good idea in college. He invented the coffee collar, that cardboard ring that fits around a cup and keeps a customer’s hand from burning.

Today, Tom’s a self-made (and self-absorbed) millionaire who spends his evenings with random bimbos and his days with best friend Hannah (Michelle Monaghan).Though they form the perfect pair, Tom doesn’t view Hannah as girlfriend material until she leaves Manhattan on a six-week business trip to Scotland. Like a lovesick pup, Tom fidgets and whines until his loved one returns. Too bad for him Hannah’s baggage includes a strapping Scottish fiancÈe (Kevin McKidd).

Much like Tom, the romantic comedy Made of Honor has one good idea, and here it is. Hannah asks Tom to be her maid of honor in a bit of a gender switch, giving the conniving lothario two weeks—for some reason, weddings in tepid screenplays such as this always happen in two weeks—to disrupt the nuptials and win his dream girl back.

Let’s acknowledge a few things right off the bat. First, Dempsey’s incredibly popular with the ladies. His female fan base has swelled thanks to his work as Dr. McDreamy on the smash hit Grey’s Anatomy. Based on the (unsolicited) feedback I received from female readers and co-workers, Dempsey is to women what Miley Cyrus is to teenage girls. If the two ever met in a movie, the film would potentially outgross Titanic.

But we also must acknowledge that Made has the artistic value of a paint-by-numbers portrait. It’s the cinematic equivalent of your favorite Starbucks drink. You know exactly what you are getting when you order it, and you won’t mind downing the all-too-familiar brew if this unchallenging brand of storytelling is your cup of tea.

The screenplay recycles tired clichÈs and director Paul Weiland (Leonard Part 6) contentedly settles on the easiest jokes (a gag involving a sassy grandmother and a glow-in-the-dark sex toy gets used three separate times). At least Dempsey and Monaghan beam like 100-watt bulbs as they make the most of the formulaic material. They’re both able to walk away from this with their honor intact. (101 min.)

—Sean O’Connell; 
www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Made-of-Honor