The Wedding Date

The Wedding Date is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Clare Kilner and starring Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, and Amy Adams. Based on the 2002 novel Asking for Trouble by Elizabeth Young, the film is about a single woman who hires a male escort to pose as her boyfriend at her sister's wedding in order to dupe her ex-fiancé, who dumped her a few years prior. The release was successful, achieving $47 million worldwide at the box office against a budget of $15 million, despite being panned by critics.

The Wedding Date
Theatrical release poster
Directed byClare Kilner
Produced by
Written byDana Fox
Based onAsking for Trouble
by Elizabeth Young
Starring
Music byBlake Neely
CinematographyOliver Curtis
Edited byMary Finlay
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Studios
Release date
  • February 4, 2005 (2005-02-04) (United States)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million
Box office$47.2 million

Plot

Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) is a single New Yorker who returns to her parents' house in London to be the maid of honor at her younger half sister Amy's (Amy Adams) wedding. The best man is none other than her former fiancé, who unexpectedly dumped her two years ago. Anxious about confronting him and eager to impress him, she hires suave escort Nick Mercer (Dermot Mulroney) to pose as her boyfriend.

Kat intends to make her former flame, Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield), jealous, but her plan backfires when Nick convinces everyone, including her, that they are madly in love. Kat then feels herself, too, falling for Nick as he slowly falls for her. The night before the wedding, Kat discovers Amy slept with Jeffrey when they were still together, and that Jeffrey dumped Kat because he believed he was in love with Amy. Nick had discovered this fact a day earlier, and when Kat finds that out, she feels betrayed from all sides, and puts Nick off. He decides to return to America, and leaves Kat the money she had paid him.

On the wedding day, seeing Kat distressed, her step-father (Peter Egan) asks Kat if Nick 'is the guy for you', and Kat realizes he is, so she sets off to find him. Meanwhile, just before the wedding, Amy confesses her betrayal to her fiancé, Ed (Jack Davenport), but professes her love for him. Ed, upset, chases Jeffrey out of the church and down the road. Jeffrey in distress of the chase, said he gave up on Amy and believes he's done nothing wrong. To which Ed, calls him a "back-stabbing weasel", though Jeffrey believes he's still done nothing wrong because he slept with Amy before they dated. Ed shouts out that he was engaged to Kat, proving he was still in the wrong for what he did to Kat. Nick, driving away, picks up Ed as Jeffrey disappears into the woods.

Nick and Ed talk about love, and Ed decides he loves Amy more than he is angry. To make it more clear that he should go back, Nick tells Ed if he went back the couple would end up having great makeup sex. To which, Nick helps urge him more to return to the church, so they end up getting married, with Nick as 'new' best man. Just before the ceremony, Nick tells Kat he realized he'd "... rather fight with you than make love with anyone else", and they kiss passionately. Kat and Nick begin a real relationship together. Amy and Kat now reconcile and Kat lets go of her anger and forgives Amy since she confessed the truth to Ed. TJ (Sarah Parish), Kat's cousin also apparently enjoys a moment with Woody (Jolyon James) after the wedding. Jeffrey learns absolutely nothing. At the end he is seen trying to get the attentions of a female neighbor. Amy gets away with everything.

Cast

Production

Some outdoor scenes where they are playing rounders were filmed on location in Parliament Hill Fields, overlooking central London. The film was also filmed in parts of Surrey, mainly Shere, Godalming and Guildford.[1]

Soundtrack

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 11% based on 140 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Critics are leaving The Wedding Date at the altar, calling it shopworn, bland, and lightweight."[2] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[3]

The film was a reasonable financial success grossing $47 million, about three times its $15 million budget.

References
  1. IMDB
  2. "The Wedding Date (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes.
  3. "The Wedding Date reviews". Metacritic.
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