In real life, is it believable that a man could be a maid of honor? Maybe. But in this movie, could this man really be a maid of honor? No. These characters are supposed to be smart and successful, but they sure don’t have a lot of common sense. Who in their right mind would actually make a playboy womanizer who has absolutely no knowledge about wedding decorations the maid of honor? It’s supposed to be funny, but the new film Made of Honor doesn’t understand how to mine comedy out of such a premise, let alone realize that these characters would not be stupid enough to allow such a thing. The plot requires its characters to follow one idiotic move after the next.
Tom (Patrick Dempsey) is a womanizer who drives around in one of those expensive cars and has a smokin’ hot best friend named Hannah (Michelle Monaghan). His ideal lifestyle is to sleep with many women without getting emotionally attached and then hang out with Hannah after. The movie sort of works for the first 20 minutes because it relies on the chemistry between the two leads, but once the plot-wheels start turning, the movie comes to a screeching halt. Hannah meets someone, and decides to get married, leaving her best friend Tom mad with jealousy. He realizes he’s in love with her. Didn’t we already see this, and wasn’t the movie called My Best Friend’s Wedding?
There are good chick flicks out there, but this is not one of them. The movie is emotionally dishonest and lacks intelligence about what these characters would really do in this situation. Plus, the movie has a bit of a mean streak. It has a nasty attitude toward anyone who isn’t upper-middle class and gorgeous. There are many jokes at the expense of nerds and obese people; the film reeks of condescension.
A couple weeks ago, The Chimes printed a glowing review of the R-rated, and controversial Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Made of Honor covers a little of the same territory as that movie; they both are about men who misuse sex outside of a godly marriage relationship. The distinction is that Forgetting Sarah Marshall is honest and explores the full consequences of such a lifestyle. Made of Honor doesn’t even have a fraction of the amount of intelligence, humor and truth as that movie. Even though this is PG-13 and Sarah Marshall is a strong R, I wouldn’t have a problem of sitting next to Jesus and watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but I would with Made of Honor. There isn’t any truth in this movie.
Made of Honor is rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.
