Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Movie Review: Made of Honor

Here's the description of the movie from Amazon.com: "For Tom (Patrick Dempsey), life is good: he's sexy, successful, has great luck with the ladies, and knows he can always rely on Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), his delightful best friend and the one constant in his life. It's the perfect setup until Hannah goes overseas to Scotland on a six-week business trip... and Tom is stunned to realize how empty his life is without her. He resolves that when she gets back, he'll ask Hannah to marry him -- but is floored when he learns that she has become engaged to a handsome and wealthy Scotsman and plans to move overseas. When Hannah asks Tom to be her "maid" of honor, he reluctantly agrees to fill the role... but only so he can attempt to woo Hannah and stop the wedding before it's too late."

My Review:

I am sorry to say that there were few redeeming qualities to this film--the bad far outweighed the good, in my opinion. While the idea of a male Maid of Honor, who's best friends with the bride but then realizes he loves her, is a good premise for a romance story, I didn't think it was played out well at all.

For starters, this movie is rated PG-13, and with good reason. The promiscuous behavior of Tom at the beginning of the movie is horrible, and as his friend it was surprising to see Hannah treat it so lightly. It was an accepted fact that he was a philanderer. The crude sexual content throughout the movie was anything but charming, and it most certainly detracted from any enjoyment to be found in the storyline.

While the movie is geared to have the viewers cheer for Tom, it was hard not to cheer for the Scottish man Hannah planned to marry. As far as I could tell, he was honorable and he loved her. There was a crude scene that kind of marred my thoughts about him, but it really wasn't his fault. There was one point where I was disappointed in something he did, but for the most part I just saw his "problem" as being too traditional.

So while I think it's great to be in love with someone who is your best friend, it's hard not to question Tom's motives. Tom took the advice of his questionable male friends rather often, and I can't help but wonder how much of his pursuit was based off of selfishness rather than true, sacrificial love.

Overall, this is not a movie I would recommend. The film disregards morality, and in my opinion it is shallow and unrealistic. There was not much that I enjoyed about it, and it didn't even leave me with a happy-ending feeling, which good "chick flicks" ought to do. If you're looking for a clean, romantic movie with Patrick Dempsey in it, I would go with Enchanted and bypass this one.

10 comments:

Ariel Wilson said...

While I do agree there are many distasteful moments in this movie, I loved it! I felt that Tom respected Hannah's desires for her wedding while the Scotsman only wanted his traditions, whether or not they were stupid or went against her beliefs. (Being vegetarian.) Just my opinion I guess.

Amber Holcomb said...

Ariel,

I can definitely see where Hannah and the Scotsman rushed things too much. It was rather obvious that they didn't know each other very well, whereas Tom (being friends with her) knew Hannah better.

I guess my problem with Tom was that not only was he a philanderer (and that issue didn't really seemed to be addressed much as to it's wrongness) but he also seemed bent on satisfying himself. I can't recall too many selfless moments from him.

In all, I guess this movie just wasn't what I would hope for. I didn't feel like there was any real take-away value for me, and I just wasn't satisfied.

But I do thank you for stopping by and sharing your opinion. :) That's the thing with reviews--they're just one person's opinion. I noticed that recently when I posted my review for Angel Song on Amazon.com. While I thought the book was very authentic, another reviewer referred to the book as "flat." Interesting to see what others' takes are on different products!

~Amber

Unknown said...

I've come across a few less-than-great reviews about this movie, and have still questioned whether or not I should watch it. Your review put the nail in the coffin of me ever wanting to watch it. I love Patrick Dempsey in Enchanted (great recommendation, btw), and while the premise for this whole movie sounds good, I can see why you're not recommending it.

Thanks for your honesty! :o)

Amber Holcomb said...

Christy,

I wanted to do a movie review for my blog, and I hadn't watched this one yet and decided to give it a try. I don't think I came to it really expecting anything great, especially with a PG-13 rating. It might have been best to just stay away entirely, but I hope that my review helps others. :)

I agree that the premise sounds cute, but I hope it's OK for me to say that I'm glad you're not going to watch it. Yes, this is just my opinion, but I don't think there's much to gain from this movie besides negativity--plus, you'll lose an hour and 40 minutes or so of your time. ;) I'm glad we agree on Enchanted, though! I thought that one was sweet and fun! :)

Thank you for your comment!

~Amber

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

I LOVED Enchanted, it was such a sweet movie especially for a girl like me who likes when fairy tales come true...not that that happens much LOL.

I did see Maid of Honor and to me, it was good but not something that I ha to see again.

Thanks for posting the movie review!

XOXO~ Renee

Amber Holcomb said...

Renee,

Oh, I loved Enchanted, too! :D I agree that it's a really sweet movie and I live "happily ever after," as well.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and thanks for reading the review!

~Amber

P.S. I saw that you mentioned Kate & Leopold to Julie, and I backed you up and recommended it to her--so I think she's going to see it now! ;) Yay!

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

I saw that! I hope she likes it LOL!

XOXO~ Renee

Amber Holcomb said...

Renee,

I hope so, too! Although I don't see how she couldn't like it... ;)

~Amber

Joy Tamsin David said...

Oh no, I'm sorry to hear you didn't like this one. I actually have it sitting downstairs waiting for me to watch(overdue from Redbox).

I love McDreamy. Did you ever see his movie Can't Buy Me Love? It came out when I was in high school (although I'm probably a bit older than you ladies). Before Patrick was McDreamy he was McGeeky. But it was a really cute movie.

Amber Holcomb said...

Joy,

I'm sorry if I disappointed you when it comes to this movie. :( This is just one review, and it seems from the above comments that Ariel and Renee enjoyed it to some extent, so it's hard to say. I guess I just wanted to give sufficient warning and share my own thoughts on it. I don't really recommend it, but again, that's just one person's opinion. ;) Hope my review might have been helpful in some way, though!

And I must have missed something...I didn't know Patrick Dempsey was AKA McDreamy! I'm sorry for not being in the know on that one! ;) I haven't seen Can't Buy Me Love, but I'll have to keep that one in mind. Thanks for the recommendation!

~Amber