Made of Honor (2008)

I have not seen My Best Friend’s Wedding but I’m going to assume that there are some recycled and gender-reversed elements of that popular film at play in this 2008 rom-com. That being said, Made of Honor might actually be faring better than it ought to if it is something of a rehash. Aside from its strapping lead man, some witty dialog and a few amusing scenes, there isn’t a lot going for this mostly formulaic film.

After getting acquainted under amusing circumstances in college, Tom Bailey, Jr. (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) spend the next ten years as best friends. Tom designed the coffee collar and is loaded to the gills and keeps himself occupied as a serial dater when he’s not hanging out with Hannah as friends. Hannah strives for a more responsible life, working for a museum but still enjoys the companionship of Tom.

When business whisks Hannah away from the States for a while, Tom is bored and misses her. He comes to the realization that he has loved her all along and decides to ask her out when she returns. Unfortunately for him, Hannah returns to America with a wealthy Scottish fiancé and throws Tom for a loop by asking him to be her Maid of Honor. It’s a tightrope walk as Tom has to play nice with Hannah’s jealous bridesmaids while planning a wedding that he desperately wants to break up.

That pretty much tells you all you need to know, right? The concept of best friends realizing they love each other has been played out enough times that it barely fazes you anymore. The filmmakers dress it up with the amusing idea of having the bride-to-be select a man as her Maid of Honor. It may work for women who have experience in the cutthroat realm of being a bridesmaid but it seems like a silly construct to me. If he’s her best friend, wouldn’t it be logical just to make him a groomsman?

Perhaps I’m being too harsh on this film. Having a man as the Maid of Honor could have been used for a crude, Frat Pack comedy featuring nothing but trashy humor and vulgarity. The romantic aspect of the film holds it back from becoming sophomoric but it doesn’t help it avoid the general silliness that most chick flicks fall victim to. But those are the trappings that bring women into the theaters and until that changes, we will continue to have run of the mill films like this.

Of all the actors who are doing romantic comedies these days, Patrick Dempsey is among the easiest to watch. Perhaps it’s because he’s on a primetime soap/drama (Grey’s Anatomy), where he plays a similar charming and loveable sort of guy. He hasn’t done any action movies and even his moonlighting in the horror genre (Scream 3) he was a sympathetic kind of role. Given his resume, there’s not much in the way of preconceived notions about what films he should be doing and none of his roles have been iconic to the point where you have a hard time thinking of him as any other character. He also usually does a pretty good job with his characters, so I can’t hold it against him for sticking with what works.

There are a few nice location shots with some beautiful scenery but that’s not enough to make up for Made of Honor's predictability. That won’t bother the target audience of the film though. Women love this stuff and, seeing as I am not a woman, I do not. If you’re in the mood for silly, romantic escapism, you could certainly do a lot worse.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

Despite my long-standing feud with the chick flick genre, I refuse to give in to the desire to use the un-clever and obvious comment that this film’s title sets itself up for. If you’re thinking of popping in a heart-warming and mushy romantic comedy, this is not the film you want. Sure, there’s plenty of fluff, but this is a sunny path with plenty of rocks in it.

The hub of this ensemble is Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), a slightly scatterbrained single who reads far too much into the actions and words of the men she dates. She’s in love with the idea of being in love and is repeatedly crushed when things don’t work out the way she thought. An off-the cuff conversation with a bartender named Alex (Justin Long) leads to an odd friendship. Alex tells it like it is and illuminates Gigi to how guys work when they are or are not into a girl. This leads to Gigi constantly calling Alex for advice in a variety of situations.

Alex’s friend Connor (Kevin Connolly) is the exact opposite. He’s hung up solely on his long-time best friend Anna (Scarlett Johansson) but is afraid to tell her how he feels about her. She’s not into him in quite that way. Anna also happens to be in the early stages of an affair with Ben (Bradley Cooper), who is married to Gigi’s co-worker Janine (Jennifer Connelly). Their marriage is on rocky grounds to start but Janine is desperate to try and save it. Between Gigi’s new intel on how men avoid commitment and Janine’s desperation, their co-worker Beth (Jennifer Aniston) decides to break up with her marriage-phobic boyfriend Neil (Ben Affleck).

As you can tell, there is an awful lot going on at one time in this film. Bouncing back and forth between the storylines doesn’t give you whiplash but it certainly makes for a frustrating viewing experience. Gigi and Alex are fun to watch because Alex is almost always spot on with his observations about men and desperate single women. Gigi on her own is a tad annoying though. The slow destruction of Janine and Ben’s marriage is powerful but not exactly pleasant to watch, what with all the fluff the other sub-plots hold. Conner and Anna are equally tough to watch because he’s such a stoop for a girl who will probably never reciprocate. Finally, Beth and Neil serve little purpose whatsoever other than to add commentary about long-term, unmarried couples.

If the point of the film is merely to make observations about a select few relationship scenarios, then it succeeds. But, if that is the case, then it’s a pretty cheap way to provide entertainment and the construct is absurd. It’s bad enough that there are eight main characters plus Drew Barrymore thrown in to boot. This forces He’s Just Not That Into You is forced to split up its 129-minute run time a little too much. Some characters are more developed, leaving others feeling flat and (as with Beth and Neil) mostly unnecessary.

Part of me wants to blast the film for having all of the characters connected in one way or another but I loved both Magnolia and Crash, which use a similar six-degrees-of-separation approach to tell an engrossing story. Perhaps it’s the genre in general or the fact that some of the characters turned me off that prevented me from being fully engaged in the story. All I can really say is that this film lacks that special quality that successful ensemble films possess.

Women are the target audience for this film. I am positive of that. With that in mind, it will likely strike a chord with a lot of women who have been through frustrating and uncertain relationship. Men will enjoy the film for Alex’s spot-on assessment of relationship but they will also cringe at the chick-flick cop-out that comes at the end.

He’s Just Not That Into You suffers from trying to hit too many issues. It probably needs another hour for all the characters to truly develop properly but who would really want to watch a three-hour chick flick? I sure don’t. Despite some clever dialog spread throughout, there isn’t much special about this film and its sugary, chick-flick marketing betrays the emotional darkness that lies within its reels.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

The Blind Side* (2009)

It’s easy to look at the setup of this film and feel your inner cynic rolling his eyes. Letting Disney get their hands on a true story involving sports, an underdog, culture clashes and a dose of family values would seem dangerous. Disney’s track record for these kinds of stories has been spotty at best and usually dripping with schmaltz. Fortunately, The Blind Side doesn’t give in to the usual Disney trappings. Instead, it delivers an emotionally charged, if not semi-predictable, film that works on all levels.

Teenager Michael Oher has been bounced around all his life. From foster homes to his friend’s couch, ‘Big Mike’ finally catches a break when his friend’s father convinces a private school athletics coach to admit the boys for their athletic abilities. At school, Michael befriends a younger boy named Sean Tuohy, Jr. (S.J. for short). This proves to be life-changing when S.J.’s mother feels a sudden surge of compassion for the down-on-his-luck teen.

The Tuohy family takes Michael in, temporarily at first, but Mrs. Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) in particular forms an attachment to the boy. Putting her Christian faith where it counts, she and the family move towards adopting Michael as their son. Along the way, Mrs. Tuohy faces criticism from her friends who are shocked that a well-to-do white woman would even want a lower class African American boy in her home, and Michael faces adversity at school in order to stay on the football team. Football unites Michael and the Tuohy’s as Michael comes to play an important role both on and off the field.

As I mentioned with my review for Invictus, these based-on-a-true-story underdog tales need to be given a little extra context. Had this not been based on the life of a real person, it would have been much easier to skewer Disney for what would feel like a paint-by-numbers upward mobility tale. But because of that ‘true story’ disclaimer, it’s easier to sit back and enjoy this film knowing that it is based, in some part, on fact. Had Disney gone too far with artistic and storytelling liberties, someone would have made a big stink about it.

Nobody made a big stink about The Blind Side, though it’s not hard to pinpoint a few areas where liberties may have been taken. Parts that are played up for emotional impact actually work though, especially when we explore Michael’s former world of poverty, gangs and downward spiraling behavior. Seeing Mrs. Tuohy descend into this world in an effort to help Michael is enough to make any middle class suburbanite nervous. These scenes in particular are probably what propelled Sandra Bullock to her Oscar win for this film, as the rest of it feels pretty generic.

Bullock’s character is tenacious though. Coupled with Michael’s desire to better himself, Bullock plays a believably defensive surrogate mother for her adopted son. The supporting characters all get the job done as well, with youngster Jae Head as the lovably quirky and over-exuberant S.J. Tuohy. Country artist Tim McGraw continues his streak of respectable performances as well as a Southern dad doing his best to aide and support Michael. No one is flat, stale or too over the top for their own good, which is another major victory for Disney.

One interesting side note and word of warning to some of you- don’t expect to see a lot of sports action from this sports story. Most of the film covers Michael’s struggle with schoolwork, self-esteem and building relationships with his new family. These are obviously the most important elements of the film but there is a dash of football every now and then. Just don’t be expecting something along the lines of Friday Night Lights and you won’t be disappointed.

There’s a lot to like about this film. It’s funny, moving, clever and heartfelt all at the same time. Are some parts easy to see coming? Of course, but that’s not this movie’s fault. Despite the number of poor true-story films that get made, and despite their familiar structure, America loves a good underdog tale, true or not. When they can be as consistent and solid as The Blind Side, they are worth remembering.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5