Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) can't stand Tom (Patrick Dempsey) when they meet at Cornell in 1998. Suddenly, it's 2008 and the two are platonic best friends with no explanation of how they bonded or why they never hooked up, particularly in light of the sexual tension that's introduced about three minutes later. After Hannah takes a work trip to Scotland and comes home with a fiancée (Kevin McKidd of "Journeyman"), she makes her best pal the maid of honor and—jealousy alert—motivates the emasculated sap, who finally realizes he wants more than random, meaningless sex, to try to break up the wedding.
Big question: Can a gender reversal add some freshness to what otherwise sounds just a tad like "My Best Friend's Wedding"?
Skip it: "Made of Honor" is such a copy of a copy of a copy that the template's charms are barely distinguishable. The film seems less like a story of late-blooming love than life stripped of its passion and stuffed into a flower pot. The only negatives Hannah discovers about her man involve the fact that he's Scottish (Bagpipes? Haggis? Like, deal breaker!), which isn't as revolting as gags about Hannah's overweight friend starving herself to squeeze into a dress or an elderly woman asking, "Where do these go?" before wearing, uh, "thunderbeads" around her neck.
Catch it: For the lone laugh that comes when one of Tom's pals asks Colin (McKidd)—with complete seriousness—if as a Scotsman he's more proud of Scotch Tape or McDonald's. Who says Americans know nothing about other countries?
Bottom line: Somehow the genre with the simplest formula has become the hardest to pull off, though any hope for "Made of Honor" is lost early when mean-spirited shots at the outsiders who look up to/desire Tom prove the film's heart comes with a snarl. Dempsey and Monaghan were born for this, but by "this" I mean romantic comedy, not lazy, mindless goop runnier than sloppy Joes at a prison cafeteria.
Bonus: If you love the title and anything else that so cleverly operates on multiple levels, Hannah discovers that Eternity by Calvin Klein works equally well as mace. Keep in mind that this duality does not apply to pepper spray and salad.
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mpais@tribune.com
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