Wedding Date (2005)

Editor's Note Kat Ellis's (Debra Messing) worst nightmare is about to come true. Not only is her younger, half-sister, Amy (Amy Adams), getting married before her, but to add insult to injury, the groom's (Jack Davenport) best man is Kat's ex-fiancée, Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield). Two years after being dumped, Kat is a single New Yorker and can't bear to attend the festivities at her parent's London home alone, so she does the next best thing: she hires an escort to play her boyfriend. Her rented date, Nick (Dermot Mulroney), fits the bill perfectly. He's handsome, intelligent, well spoken, intuitive, and a perfect gentleman--a virtual bargain at $6,000. The plan? Make Kat's ex sorry that he ever let her go. But the plan takes a turn when Kat finds herself attracted to Nick, and the feeling seems to be mutual. But will their business arrangement stand in the way of a relationship? And just what is it that Kat's ex has been dying to tell her? Messing is endearing as Kat, who seems to be simultaneously bewildered and bemused by her situation. Mulroney, meanwhile, is at his most charming as Nick. Clare Kilner (HOW TO DEAL) directs this romantic comedy set in London and the English countryside, which also features Holland Taylor as Kat's slightly overbearing mother and Peter Egan as her loving stepfather. Sarah Parish is a hoot as the sisters' bawdy British cousin.

	Amy Adams
	Debra Messing
	Dermot Mulroney
	Jack Davenport
	Blake Neely - Original Music By
	Clare Kilner - Director
	Dana Fox - Screenplay
	Elizabeth Young - Based On Novel By
	Jessica Bendinger, et. al. - Producer
	Mary Finlay - Editor
	Norm Waitt - Executive Producer
	Oliver Curtis - Cinematographer
	Tom Burton - Production Designer

The New York Times 6 of 10
The Wedding Date, struggles from beginning to end to capture the charm and ebullience of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mike Newell's 1994 film about bad timing and a British-American romance. The new movie's effort is mostly unsuccessful, but there are bright spots. - Anita Gates

James Berardinelli's ReelViews 4 of 10
Calling The Wedding Date a "romantic comedy" is a misnomer. It's not funny, and there's not much romance. Oh, the film thinks it's got humor - offbeat characters, wacky situations, goofy faces - but the only members in the audience likely to be chuckling are those who will laugh at anything. And it thinks it's romantic - but bringing a male and female together and letting them kiss and make goo-goo eyes at each other is hardly the basis of a good love story. This is a charmless, lifeless affair that had me leaving the theater in a mood more appropriate to a funeral than a wedding. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
Part of the movie's appeal comes from the way the Nick character negotiates the absurdities of the plot as if he stands outside it. A lesser performance, or one not as skillfully written (by Dana Fox) would have pitched him headlong into the fray. By withdrawing, so to speak, he creates a great curiosity about himself, and the other characters see in him what they need to see. - Roger Ebert