The Wedding Date

Clare Kilner's purported romantic comedy The Wedding Date combines a drab script with alternately frantic/somnolent acting and slack direction (rather like one of those nuptial events in which virtually everything goes wrong). The woebegone plot--apparently intended as a sort of gender twist on Pretty Woman--is set in motion when young New York businesswoman Kat (Debra Messing) hires a blandly handsome male escort (Dermot Mulroney) to impersonate her boyfriend at the wedding of her stepsister in England (because the best man dumped our heroine shortly before their planned marriage a few years earlier). The scrambled plot involves Kat's effort to let go of her emotional attachment to her old beau while reluctantly surrendering to the charms of her hired hand. But far from being the agreeable romp it intends to be, the film is crippled with unpleasant twists, platitudinous dialogue, self-conscious performances, and--perhaps--the worst collection of pop tunes ever assembled for a soundtrack (not to mention maladroit editing that suggests great gobs of connecting footage was excised at the last moment). One film you should definitely leave at the altar, this is not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by Debra Messing, some deleted scenes (10 min.) and an eight-minute interview with Debra Messing. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a dud of a film.] (F. Swietek)