Movie Review: Made of Honor (2008)

Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd and Busy Philipps star in this romantic comedy.

My wife and I originally saw this movie when it first came out in the theater in 2008. I was admittedly reluctant at the time because I’m not a huge romantic comedy fan. However, I agreed to go with her on the condition she saw “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” with me. And, as it turns out, this movie was actually enjoyable for both of us.

I think the thing I really liked about this particular movie is, with some minor exceptions, it doesn’t fall into the same tired clichés as other romantic comedies. For example, instead of her planning to marry some jerk that doesn’t deserve her, Hannah’s (Monaghan) fiancé (McKidd) is actually a pretty decent guy. In fact, as the movie makes sure to clarify, he’s actually better than Tom (Dempsey) in a variety of ways. He’s rich, royalty, is a better athlete, romantic and apparently even better endowed. In other words, unlike other movies, it’s not as simple as proving to her that the guy isn’t right for her. Instead, Tom has to prove he’s better for her, something that is a major uphill battle and keeps the movie from becoming too predictable.

Another thing I love about this movie is it is genuinely funny. Again, this isn’t always the case with romantic comedies because many of them will take themselves a little too seriously, almost to the point they are becoming more dramatic than funny. This film, however, does a fantastic job of staying light-hearted and funny. And, even though Tom is taking on a role that is traditionally held by a female friend or relative, there were actually surprisingly few jokes attacking his masculinity (as I expected to be the case) and even less attacking the time-honored tradition of marriage (as I also kind of expected).

As I said before, I’m not a huge fan of romantic comedies. However, there are some movies I do make an exception for and this is definitely one of those movies. I would highly recommend watching it if you haven’t seen it before, especially if you can watch it with your significant other.

My Grade: A