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Wedding Date, The
Universal Studios Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content including dialogue
Starring
Debra Messing,
Dermot Mulroney,
Amy Adams,
Jack Davenport,
Sarah Parish,
Jeremy Sheffield,
Peter Egan,
and
Holland Taylor
In this romantic comedy, Debra Messing plays Kat, a never-married New Yorker, who is invited to her younger sister's wedding in London. What should be a joyous occasion bodes disaster for Kat, however, when she discovers that the best man will be none other than her ex-fiancé. In a desperate attempt to face the ordeal with dignity, Kat hires Nick (Mulroney), a charming and handsome professional male escort, to pose as her new boyfriend and escort her to the wedding. (Universal)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Dana Fox
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Clare Kilner
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: August 16, 2005
Video: August 16, 2005
Theatrical: February 4, 2005
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
90 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
63
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The curious case of two appealing performances surviving a bombardment of schlock.
60
The Hollywood Reporter
Sheri Linden
Familiar but never overly broad, this well-cast, crowd-pleasing comedy benefits from a low-key emphasis on character over high jinks.
60
Film Threat
Stina Chyn
A decent film, but not a great romantic comedy.
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Kilner's light touch keeps the romantic pair dancing around their romance without tripping, but as the film reaches the inevitable happy ending, the steps look all too familiar.
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
A vaguely creepy and mildly diverting rom-com.
50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
The lucky Mulroney gets to play the kind of sensitive hunk that women want and men want to be, but he's the only one who can be heard over the tired wheezing of the romantic-comedy machinery.
50
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
It seems like a slam-dunk pitch -- "Pretty Woman" with the genders reversed -- but there's one major problem: The whole hooker-fantasy bit is much more of a guy thing.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
A fairly mediocre film, not nearly as funny as it should be, nor as heartfelt. On the plus side, it's only 85 minutes long and isn't boring. On the downside, it has an intrusive pop soundtrack and a screenplay full of fake conflicts.
50
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
This is a charmless, lifeless affair that had me leaving the theater in a mood more appropriate to a funeral than a wedding.
42
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
So many body parts from other engineered romantic comedies have been crudely harvested and stitched together in the making of this weird robotic lark that "Maid of Honor of Frankenstein" might be more useful a nickname.
40
LA Weekly
Chuck Wilson
Anemic.
40
Variety
Justin Chang
An intriguingly racy premise -- plays out to listless, unsatisfying effect.
40
The New York Times
Anita Gates
Struggles from beginning to end to capture the charm and ebullience of "Four Weddings." The new movie's effort is mostly unsuccessful, but there are bright spots.
40
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Nicely paced but so fluffy it threatens to waft away.
40
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Dermot Mulroney is the movie's only genuinely romantic lead. And he's so good that he nearly carries The Wedding Date single-handedly.
40
Empire
Caroline Westbrook
This is a leaden mess that offers only brief moments of respite.
40
Village Voice
Jennifer Snow
Clare Kilner's cast frolics in the countryside in an appropriately British-romantic-comedy fashion, and at times the characters trade silly snaps, but Dana Fox's screenplay is structurally shaky.
38
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
There's nothing about The Wedding Date that isn't forced or labored; there's only a stubborn determination to embrace every cliche and make sure the stars photograph well.
38
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
It's an hour longer than the average sitcom, but The Wedding Date isn't much different from what you see crammed into any TV comedy lineup, minus the laugh track.
38
Premiere
Peter Debruge
A relatively harmless (and thankfully, not entirely laughless) trifle.
38
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Oddly enough, though, only the finale is predictable in a movie that appears to have been edited in an early-model blender. Not a single scene connects smoothly with the next.
38
USA Today
Mike Clark
The movie goes wrong from the start.
38
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
Wedding Date is neither good art, good entertainment nor even good trash.
33
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
A movie of utter inconsequence -- a cinematic Listerine Strip that evaporates from the brain before you even get your popcorn tub to the trash.
30
Washington Post
Teresa Wiltz
Amusing premise, not-so-amusing execution.
30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
This movie is all pretty faces and six-pack abs, but no characters. All surface and no soul. Come to think of it, the surface isn't so darned hot either.
30
TV Guide
Angel Cohn
It might be best to discreetly misplace your invitation to these strained festivities.
30
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
Winds up an oddly depressing, lost, little movie that eventually caves in on itself.
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Imagine, if you dare, the outtakes from all those merely bad romantic comedies. Now further imagine that these discarded bits, the stuff that failed to make even the failures, found their way out of the waste bin and into a splicing machine and onto a projector. Do that and you're inching toward a full appreciation of this particular barrel, and the bottom it so brazenly scrapes.
25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Suffers from a lack of chemistry.
25
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Messing may simply be one of those actresses who's the right size for TV and the wrong size for the big screen.
25
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Messing should know this is precisely the kind of movie Grace would ridicule Will for dragging her to see.
20
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Inexplicable Fantasy Romances for the Harried Modern Gal 101 is a more fitting title for this shameless mediocrity.
0
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
A witless, stale and half-hearted rehash of cliches borrowed from the likes of "The Wedding Planner," "The Wedding Singer" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral," this pathetic, alleged comedy certainly wasn't improved by clueless direction by Clare Kilner.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.2 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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