The success of Love Actually and Bridget Jones 2 proves there's still demand for straightforward, predictable romantic comedies. But in the case of The Wedding Date, a film presumably intended as a vehicle for Debra 'Will And Grace' Messing's comic talents, its predictability proves to be its downfall.
Unsure if it wants to be a romantic drama or a light comedy, it opts for a mix of both - the upshot being that it's neither dramatic nor funny, merely a collection of stereotypes that have been seen in so many movies of this type; it's as if the makers were ticking them off on a list. Overbearing mother? Check. Lead character who's clearly lonely because she's single? Check. Wedding at a church that involves people running through fields in big dresses? Yup, that's there too.
To her credit, Messing acquits herself well as the neurotic Kat, and, as her stepdad, Peter Egan provides one of the few likeable characters. But the script is poor and the running time so slender that nobody's given time to breathe and develop - we're shown almost nothing of Kat's life in New York, merely told about her romantic failings there later - while the supposedly charismatic Mulroney merely looks bored throughout.