by Karyn L. Beach

If the plot of Made of Honor sounds familiar, it's because it is. It's very similar to the 1998 Julia Roberts-Cameron Diaz film, My Best Friend's Wedding. In that one, Julia was the 'best man' of her best friend, Dermont Mulroney. After years of friendship, she realizes that she loves him and uses her 'best man' position to sabotage the nuptials. I'm talking about that movie now, because it's the better movie.

Made of Honor begins ten years earlier when college playboy, Tom (Patrick Dempsey) wanders into a sorority house bedroom looking for his hook-up, only to crawl into bed with her studious Fine Arts major roommate, Hannah (Michelle Monaghan). After trading insults the two become friends, best friends. Flash forward to the present, Tom is now a rich playboy and Hannah restores works of art. They finish each others sentences and eat off of each other's plates. It's a comfortable, familiar relationship, at least it is for Tom. But, as the saying goes, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." When Hannah goes on a six-week business trip to Scotland, Tom realizes that he loves her. He's all set to tell her how he feels but she returns with more than a few souvenirs. She's got a bona fide Scottish gentleman (Kevin McKidd) on her arm, who's put quite the ring on her finger.

His friends (Kadeem Hardison, Chris Messina, and Richmond Arquette) and his oft-married father (Sydney Pollack) urge him to go after his true love before their whirlwind Scottish wedding takes place.

Here's the good part. Patrick Dempsey is just as McDreamy as he is on Grey's Anatomy. He and Michelle Monaghan have good chemistry. I also enjoyed Demspey's crew of guy friends, led by Kadeem Hardison, who I haven't seen on the big or small screen in years.

Now for the rest of it. Made of Honor took two likeable actors and placed them in a movie that wasn't very likeable. While it did have the rare romantic moment, the film's idea of comedy was having Tom run into the same waiter twice in one evening! Are you laughing yet?

Most of the time, we go into a rom-com knowing how it's going to end, but there should still be some suspense, friction, drama or something keeping the principals from getting together.That element is sorely missing here and the result is a film that falls flat.

Made of Honor reminded me of a few guys I dated back in the day - nice to look at but not much else. You go out to dinner with them and you're bored to tears by the time the appetizers come. Good looks only go so far.