Tom and Hannah have been best friends for 10 years. Just as serial dater Tom realises his true feelings for Hannah, she gets engaged. When she asks Tom to be her ‘Maid’ of Honour, he reluctantly agrees so that he can attempt to prevent the wedding from the inside and win her for himself...

Made of Honour is a romantic comedy that stars Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan as two friends, Tom and Hannah, who have been there for each other for the last ten years. Every weekend they hang out together, but when Hannah has to go to Scotland on business for a few weeks, Tom suddenly realises that he can't live without her. This comes as a bit of a shock to him as he's constantly dating different women and isn't ready for a commitment. He plans to tell her when she returns from her trip, but when she gets back she's also brought back the new man in her life. Colin is from a wealthy Scottish family and the two are already engaged to be married.

When Hannah asks Tom to be her Maid of Honour, Tom's friends encourage him to go along in order that he can find a way to break up the marriage and tell Hannah his true feelings for her.

I have to admit that I wasn't particularly relishing the thought of sitting through this film. Rom Coms are usually either great fun or a pile of sentimental rubbish - with the later generally being the case. The Prince and Me 2: The Royal Wedding was a painful experience for me when I recently had to review it, and the thought of another American styled reworking of Cinderella was not really something I was looking forward to stomaching once again.

However, as Made of Honour began I realised that this was about as far removed from the stereotypical Rom Com as you could get, whilst still staying true to the genre. Don't ask! I still can't work out how it manages to tug at the heart strings without falling into the usual pitfalls that make you want to throw up your last meal, but it does - and beautifully so.

Paul Weiland is a British director who, thankfully, resists the temptation to go for the cheap and easy laughs, instead injecting real depth and soul into a tale we've witnessed a million times before. The twist here is that it's the man trying to get the girl whose been hiding in plain sight.

There are so many interesting little touches (like the creepy blogger, the shot of Tom's reflection in a shop window that makes him look like he's wearing a dress, and the glow in the dark thunder beads) that help to keep this movie feeling fresh. Not only that, but the film shifts gear several times throughout so that the viewer never has time to get comfortable with plot - the biggest shift is when Colin appears on the scene.

Extras include an audio commentary with the director; Save the Date: The Making of Made of Honour (12 min, 54 sec); Three Weddings and a Skyline (6 min, 49 sec featurette that interviews the production designer on the look of the film's key scenes); Deleted Scenes (Locker Room (38 sec) and Highland Games (2 min, 36 sec)); and trailers for other releases.

For those who have started to get a little bored of the predictability of Rom Coms, Made of Honour breathes much needed life into the genre. A master class in how how to produce a movie that will appeal to everyone, without for one second patronising its audience.

8

Darren Rea