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| Sitting
down to watch The Wedding Date about one week before
Valentine’s Day, I expected nothing more than a chick-flick.
But, as the story unfolded, I found myself not necessarily being
drawn in by a romance, but pulled in by a story about the things
we hold onto, the things we allow to hold onto us, and in the
end, a story about letting go. |
(2005) Film Review |
| This
page was created on February 17, 2005
This page was last updated on
August 18, 2005
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
Dial up modems will take a few moments
ELISABETH'S
WEDDING DATE BLOG |
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| Directed by
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| SYNOPSIS |
Kat Ellis (DEBRA MESSING) is looking for the right
man.
NOW.
The position comes with a few requirements: willingness to travel, keen social
skills, good looks, suave demeanor, sharp mind...and a tux. The qualified candidate
should also have (though not required) the ability to make ex-boyfriends jealous,
to turn heads whenever entering a room and to reduce any woman within eye- and
earshot to a weak-kneed, besotted admirer.
Kat wouldn’t be so urgently in need were it not for her spoiled, gets-everything-she-wants
half-sister’s wedding where the best man happens to be Kat’s handsome
ex-boyfriend. What’s worse, the currently single Kat has to schlep all
the way from New York -- where she’s made her life -- to London, where
her wildly dysfunctional family lives. That’s one long, thankless trip
to take solo.
And since the wedding is happening, oh, next weekend, Kat does what any enterprising
single woman would do -- she tracks down and hires a professional. So what if
her solution crosses a few morally dubious lines plus costs her a tidy six thousand
bucks which she’ll have to drain from her 401K? And so what if her escort
happens to be...well, an escort? Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Lucky for her that her hiring skills are pitch-perfect and she zeroes in on smooth
heart-stopper Nick Mercer (DERMOT MULRONEY), one of New York’s better known
and in-demand professional male escorts who’s quite, uh, well-equipped
for the task. Once in England, the insightful and charismatic Nick -- part actor/part
shrink/part bon vivant -- helps Kat navigate the choppy waters of her screwy
family and caddish old flame Jeffrey (JEREMY SHEFFIELD) and convinces everyone
he meets that he and Kat are, indeed, an item.
As Nick charms Kat’s parents, Bunny and Victor Ellis (HOLLAND TAYLOR and
PETER EGAN), her self-absorbed half-sister Amy (AMY ADAMS), Amy’s fiancee
Edward (JACK DAVENPORT), as well as every living, breathing woman within a 100-kilometer
radius, Kat too finds herself feeling things she’s never felt before.
For Kat, what begins as merely a face-saving ruse with a dashing guy-for-hire
-- strictly a business arrangement -- quickly starts to become more than she
ever expected. But love doesn’t come cheap...
In the tradition of such comedies as Four Weddings and a Funeral, My Best Friend’s
Wedding and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Wedding Date is a funny, touching and
utterly romantic look at love, marriage, family and the sexy surprises life holds
in store. |
| |
 When
it comes to watching romantic comedies, I more often than not
walk away shaking my head and muttering something about how that
only happens in the movies. Most of them will never go near the
Oscars and have trouble steering away from sappy lines, cliché moments,
and plots hauntingly similar to each other. Sometimes, however,
I do enjoy those movies ever so rightly labeled chick-flicks.
Maybe I am just in that mood. Maybe I am in the right company.
Or maybe, even amid their clichéd, sappy, only-in-the-movies
moments, they somehow manage to connect to something going around
in my head, to some part of me or my life, and through that connection,
hit on something that is more real than just the movie itself.
 Sitting down to watch The Wedding Date about one week before Valentine’s
Day, I expected nothing more than a chick-flick. The movie began to tell its
story, a story about a woman still in love an ex, an escort hired to make her
ex jealous, and a lot more drama than anyone bargained for. Inside my head, my
recent re-viewing of Butterfly Effect spun around with several recent
conversations about relationships in need of adjustment. And, as the story unfolded,
I found myself not necessarily being drawn in by a romance, but pulled in by
a story about the things we hold onto, the things we allow to hold onto us, and
in the end, a story about letting go.
 The main character, Kat Ellis enters the movie holding onto her ex-fiancé Jeffrey.
From the moment she comes on screen, her life and thoughts revolve around Jeffrey,
missing him, wishing she could have him back, and wondering if he wants her back.
Her love life since the breakup is portrayed as nearly non-existent and it seems
that all her hope in that area rests on Jeffrey and Jeffrey alone.
 Nick Mercer, the escort Kat hired to try to win Jeffrey back, immediately recognizes
the firm hold Kat’s relationship with Jeffrey has on her. Telling her to “stop
worrying about the past, forget the pain, and remember what an incredible woman
you are,” he points to the hold the insecurities of the break-up have on
her. Reiterating a statement he made in a magazine article, “Every woman
has the exact love life she wants,” Nick also pushes Kat to recognize that
insecurities may not even be the biggest thing keeping her from the life she
wants. Perhaps the very thing she wants the most and refuses to let go of, the
idea that what she wants can only be found with Jeffrey, is the very thing that
is keeping her from actually having the life she truly desires.
 More than just an idea pertaining to romance, however, the concept behind Nick’s
statement is one that seems relevant to life in general. Sure, there are circumstances
beyond our control, bad things will happen, and things will not always be what
we want. As we deal with both the good and bad parts of life, however, the question
this idea asks is whether the very things we hold onto, the specific things we
want the most or feel we have to have, are simply getting in the way of finding
what we really long for?
 At the end of the movie not only Kat, but many characters have to let go of something
to get what they truly desire. Wanting to be loved, Kat must let go of both her
insecurities and her belief that Jeffrey is the only man for her. Several characters
dealing with betrayal must let go of their anger and forgive others to also give
love a chance. And Nick, while not a highly developed character, also faces a
choice between what has defined his life up to this point and something very
different.
 As the characters in the movie show us, we too often hold onto and depend upon
people, things, and ideas that hold us back and fall far short. Sometimes our
past cripples us so much we feel unable and unworthy of seeking anything better.
Sometimes it is so hard to see any reality other than our present, we cannot
even imagine anything better. Fortunately for us, our lives can be more than
we could ever imagine or give them a chance to be.
Through Jesus, God offers us forgiveness and release from whatever past, present,
and future downfalls may cause us to see ourselves or others as unworthy. With
a plan and a purpose for each of our lives, God promises everyone a life that
will not fall short. And simply asking us to let go and trust in Him, God reaches
out His hands, ready to help us find the lives of meaning, purpose, and joy we
have always been seeking.
From the people we hold onto to pasts that haunt us and dreams that define us,
letting go of anything is not easy. Sometimes it seems impossible. Sometimes
it seems life threatening. As The Wedding Date reveals, however, letting
go can also be filled with hope. Yes, it is about giving up control, about loosening
our grip on the things we depend upon the most. But much more than just realeasing
a hold, letting go is about freeing our whole selves to find and embrace what
is actually worth holding onto. The question for us is: Are we ready?
ELISABETH'S
WEDDING DATE BLOG
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