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Made of Honour (2008)

Time Out rating

Average user rating

3 reviews

Synopsis

Tom (Patrick Dempsey) is something of a whiz with the ladies. Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) is his down-to-earth best friend who he can always rely on to get him out of scrapes. That is until she heads over to Scotland for a six-week business trip and Tom realises how much he misses her. He makes a promised to himself that when she returns, he'll ask Hannah to marry him. However, he soon discovers that she has become engaged to a handsome and wealthy Scotsman and plans to move overseas. The film is directed by Brit helmer Paul Weiland who gave us last year’s very decent ‘Sixty Six’.

Movie review

From Time Out London

This is by no means the worst addition to the burgeoning genre of the wedding comedy. Patrick Dempsey follows up his successful role in ‘Enchanted’ with a likeable turn as lothario Tom, who has a monstrous fear of commitment inherited from his father (Sydney Pollack), who’s about to marry his sixth trophy wife. Pollack’s scenes are amusing without exception: his lawyer is still negotiating pre-nup minutiae as the latest bride arrives at the church. (Her car has to continue circling the block when the lawyers start arguing about the frequency of their conjugal activities.)

But this is mainly about Tom and Hannah (an equally pleasant Michelle Monaghan), which makes the majority of the film more sunny but less funny. The pair are firm friends with an unconsummated attraction, and when Tom’s pals finally persuade him that she’s the one, he prepares to declare his love – only Scottish Colin (Kevin McKidd) gets there first.

Mr Perfect Colin is an initially funny character, proving his macho superiority on Tom’s home turf. But when the action shifts to Colin’s palatial Scottish castle the film falls into familiar territory.

There’s fun to be had from Tom’s attempts to compete with the girlish bridesmaids (he’s the titular maid of honour) but the plot holds little suspense, and the script’s sharp wit is undermined by all the kilt sporting and whisky supping. And so this moves from comedy to cliché – but there’s still enough charm to make it a serviceable romantic comedy.

Author: Anna Smith

Time Out London Issue 1967: May 2 - 9, 2008

User reviews of this film

Sarko said...

Posted on May 10 2008 18:49 Only if you have nothing else to watch.

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kimberly xx said...

Posted on May 05 2008 16:14 made of honour is a great film and realistic it is funny and one i would recomend you to watch!

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usman khawaja said...

Posted on May 03 2008 03:09 this is a very endearing romance despite it's many flaws and stereotypes-from moonlit scottish castles to knights without armours on horsebacks,it reeks of trashy sentimentality and familiar themes from erstwhile hollywood factory of dreams -so far i agree with mr.holden ,but it also is a sharp comment on the british ceremonial class driven society and it reminds me of the trials and tribulations of a real life princess who lived not so long ago,
the ignominioussly promiscuous TOM-dempsey ,hilariously mistaken by british aristocracy as being gay ,the ritual scottish decathlon to win the fair maiden almost becoming a travesty of a decadent culture ,
it has cliches galore but dempsey and monaghan are both magnificently natural and the eloquent description of dempsey's face was ironically amusing yet refreshing in their introduction sequence-ingenious and hilarious.
the scottish accents are tastefully used to make harmless fun of casual anecdotes.
the intuitive sequence in the damp,dank scottish castle is really very good expressionist cinema where the 2 leads communicate across a closed door,it works like magic and so does the baseball game in manhattan where the unscruplous dempsey tries to belittle the naive scot into humiliation .
Mc kidd as the most eligible bachelor in scotland seems rather desperate for nuptials -he is the perfect catch ,more so than WILLIAM-allegedly hung like a donkey with a huge family fortune and a daniel craig like charm-and an aristocrat to boot WITH ,he still is rather shown as an naive and not very intuitive about affairs of the heart ,that truly was a flaw but there was enough to make up like the satirically brilliant dinner table conversation about venison,chocolate cakes and deer hunts ,
the predator of course here becomes the victim and the sweet hearts triumph and it is no mean victory for the makers who have made a refreshingly revitalzed comedy and romance out of a tired genre,
as the scottish will say it warms the cockles of your heart-yes,it has it's american cheese cake characters like the 3 bridesmaids and the sardonically snobbish aristocratic scot mother-in-law ,but it also has a delightfully droll granny who wears glow beads as a necklace to her grand-daughter's wedding .
i will definitely watch this again and dempsey is improvising with age ,while monaghan is a definite revelation ,both in looks and talent .
this was typical but by no means a desultory endeavour like 27 dresses,in fact it is pleasant and surprising to see another entertaining social satire from hollywood after sarah marshall-though the two are so divergent yet equally engaging .
go watch it as you will both chuckle and be moved by it's multi dimensions and rich characters.i was quite taken with this sweet romance which is devoid of foul language and sex gags ,yet retains humor and thus becomes quite honorable .SEXUAL SHENANIGANS IN SCOTTISH KILTS .
usman khawaja -jbz7879

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