MADE OF HONOR

Directed by Paul Weiland. Starring Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Sydney Pollack, Kathleen Quinlan, James Sikking 15A cert, gen release, 101 min
Photograph: The Irish Times

WHAT A difference a hit TV series makes. After 20 years as a busy actor in movies that few people saw, Patrick Dempsey belatedly became an overnight star as the medic dubbed Dr McDreamy in Gray's Anatomy . Hollywood took notice.

Disney gave Dempsey a leading role in Enchanted , and now he commands star billing in Made of Honor .

Tom (Dempsey) is a successful inventor who has sworn off marriage and happily leads an active sex life according to his self-imposed rules, such as never spending consecutive nights with the same woman. His father (Sydney Pollack) has gone to the opposite extreme; about to marry for the sixth time, he is finalising the prenuptial agreement in church while his bride negotiates through her lawyer from a limousine outside.

Despite all the women in his life, Tom clearly is happiest in all the time he shares with his closest friend, Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), perhaps because their relationship is platonic. In Scotland on business, Hannah has a whirlwind romance with a wealthy, charming local man, Colin (Kevin McKidd), and they decide to marry within a fortnight.

Colin is depicted as a decent, caring man madly in love with Hannah, but Tom finally realises that he loves Hannah and wants to marry her. Is it too late, or can he possibly wreck the wedding in Scotland? You may as well ask if the Pope is Catholic.

This slight, entirely undemanding romantic comedy adheres rigidly to the conventions of the genre. That's one reason why it's likely to be popular.

© 2008 The Irish Times