THE WEDDING DATE

Everything that might have given the film a bit of depth, or glue, as it were, was cut out for reasons unknown.

Debra Messing reminds me of my favorite Barbie. If you grew up in the 80's, maybe you had her too—she was Diva from Barbie and the Rockers, and she was beautiful. The resemblance evokes a sort of blind allegiance to Debra Messing. I like her and root for her without really knowing why. Also, I want her hair. I wanted to like The Wedding Date in the same mindless way, but, alas, I could not.

To its credit, the movie gets off to a quick start with Kat (Messing) hiring a male escort to accompany her to her sister's wedding in England. Horrifyingly, Kat's former fiancé is the best man, so it's imperative that she give the impression of being hip, happy, and together. Luckily, Nick (Dermot Mulroney) turns up to save the day, and she finds herself with the hottest date around. He's like a perfect Ken doll, and to extend the metaphor just a bit further, Kat's sister (Amy Adams) looks like a Barbie too, but a bitchy blond one. If I think about it, the movie itself is something like my friend and I would have played out with our dolls, and it makes about as much sense.

An upbeat feel-good soundtrack is a nice accompaniment to this fluff-fest, but it can't compensate for the blatant lack of substance. Since so little actually happens in the movie, we're left to enjoy the characters. Kat's stepfather is sweetly played by Peter Egan, and he's just about the best in the bunch. The wickedly funny Holland Taylor plays Kat's mother, though her talents are pitifully underutilized by this film. Sarah Parish is hilarious as Kat's outspoken and rather mannish cousin, but none of the characters are given much to do—they're just a backdrop to Kat and Nick's imminent fairy tale ending.

As the wedding day approaches, Kat becomes more and more attracted to Nick. Maybe I was being too literal about the whole thing, but every time I would see Nick, I'd flash back to that fateful day in health class when the teacher explained that when you sleep with one person, you're also sleeping with all of their past partners. Pretty soon the numbers are growing exponentially, and two benign-looking people represent a staggering number of germs. In that light, a male escort doesn't seem like such a great catch. Wouldn't you always be waiting for some latent sexually transmitted disease to rear its ugly head? Wouldn't he at least need a shower like they gave Meryl Streep in Silkwood before you even thought about kissing him? None of this seems to bother Kat—she's sold on Nick until a crushing and unrelated secret is revealed.

As it turns out, Kat's fiancé dumped her because he was sleeping with her sister, which means he also slept with his best friend's bride-to-be, and, long story short, Kat's sister is not a very good person. Somehow this is all Nick's fault. Kat yells at him for not telling her, he takes off in a huff, and it's like ten more minutes before they get together again. There's never really any doubt that they'll hook up and live happily ever after—it's just a matter of when.

The Wedding Date is cute and cheerful, but I felt strangely empty when it was over. The one thing that popped into my mind was that it had no glue—nothing to hold it together. I started poking through the extra features after that—a nice little interview with Debra (who also does commentary) and a handful of deleted scenes. The deleted scenes reveal it all. Everything that might have given the film a bit of depth, or glue, as it were, was cut out for reasons unknown. The Wedding Date makes more sense after watching the deleted scenes, but it's all the more depressing knowing that the movie could have easily been so much better.