The main question asked in Made of Honor (2008) is whether there is a wrong time to say I love you to someone.  On the day of a person’s wedding, when that person is marrying someone else, might be it.  Of course, this is dealing with the special kind of love that two people vow to one another upon becoming man and wife.  In Catholicism, we elevate this exchange of vows to the level of a Sacrament, something that is supposed to approximate is a mysterious way the depth of feeling God has for us.  As for the scenario mentioned at the start, which happens in today’s film, the more honorable move would be to share your feelings a lot sooner than when your intended is at the altar.  Maybe also not being a philanderer would help, too.  Anyway, on with the review.

It is difficult to see Tom Bailey Jr. (Patrick Dempsey) as being Made of Honor in the first few scenes.  He is in his senior year at Cornell University and he has developed a reputation for charming every female he encounters into bed.  Part of this is related to his intelligence, which he uses to invent the cardboard wraps that go around coffee cups served at places like Starbucks, an innovation that will eventually make him wealthy off residuals.  For the moment, it is Halloween and he is dressed as Bill Clinton looking for his Monica.  It leads him to Hannah’s (Michelle Monaghan) dorm room, who is sleeping instead of partying.  He mistakes her as his intended, and she screams when he lays down next to her.  Once they get past the startlement, she helps him find the person he had been looking for, but a bond is formed between them that lasts as we jump ahead ten years.  They are now living in New York City, and after he has awakened next to yet another conquest, he proceeds to get Hannah’s caffeine order just right.  He takes it to where she works as a curator at a museum, and this Catholic was momentarily pleased to see her working on a painting of St. Sebastian . . . until the camera frames her head on it in an inappropriate way.  The two proceed to share an afternoon together, guessing one another’s pie choices at a nearby café and enjoying an ease of company that says almost all you need to know about what is going to happen.  I will carry on, nonetheless.  In the course of their conversation, he mentions that his father, Tom Bailey Sr. (Sydney Pollack), is getting married for the first time.  Junior wants Hannah to come with him, to which she eventually accedes.  Before the ceremony, father and son are commiserating about Hannah, and senior wonders why junior has never asked her out.  Junior brushes this off, but it is becoming clearer as he and Hannah dance at the reception that they have feelings for one another.  In the afterglow of the celebration, they are walking through Central Park when she informs him that she will be going to Scotland for six weeks on a work trip.  He smiles and says that he is excited for her, and proceeds to call her every day while she is there, planning his days around these communications.  You can see what is happening, I hope.  His friends definitely see it.  While they applaud his libertine lifestyle when it comes to matters of the flesh, they can also tell he has feelings for her.  This is underscored when they are trying to talk with her stuck in the middle of a herd of sheep and with a spotty connection.  Once it finally drops, he does not hear from her for weeks.  The time without her serves to show him that he is, in fact, in love with her.  Thus, on the day she finally returns, she invites him to dinner to tell him an important announcement.  Having dressed his best and bought flowers, he expects to sweep her off her feet.  Instead, he meets her new fiancé, Colin McMurray (Kevin McKidd), and Tom’s normally suave demeanor falls by the wayside.  Because of how special is Tom’s friendship, Hannah asks him to be her maid of honor (get it?).  Though there is some hesitation, his friends remind him that this is the perfect way for him to break up the coming wedding and get her to be his.  The original plan is to attack Colin’s character and find weak traits for Tom to exploit.  The problem is that Colin is a duke, and a nice one at that, and he can dunk a basketball.  Because Colin seemingly has no flaws, Tom switches tactics to him being the better man, which means proving that he is maturing.  This involves taking his matrimonial duties seriously, though he has an adversary in Melissa (Busy Philipps), Hannah’s cousin.  Melissa is a former conquest of Tom’s, and she is not happy with how she had been cast aside like the rest.  As such, she sabotages the bridal shower by having Tom inadvertently invite an adult toy salesperson, which angers Hannah.  Tom redoubles his efforts, taking Hannah to register for gifts, but it is her last night in town and he feels hopeless.  Receiving a peptalk from his dad, Tom goes to Scotland nonetheless and endeavors to get Hannah alone so his can confess his love for her.  It is made difficult by having to navigate the myriad of stereotypical pre-wedding Scottish traditions, including competing against Colin in a gamut of Highland games.  It takes him kissing her passionately on the night before the nuptials for her to understand.  Yet, it is all nearly ruined once again by Melissa, who drunkenly stumbles into Tom’s room expecting sex.  Hannah witnesses the scene, but not Tom’s protests, and wants nothing to do with him.  He is about to go home defeated when he gets what he interprets as a sign and returns to the chapel in order to voice his objection.  Though he has to endure Colin’s right cross, the film ends with Hannah and Tom exchanging vows back in New York City.

The wedding at the end of Made of Honor is being officiated by a character named Reverend Foote (James B. Sikking).  When we first meet him, it is as Tom is going around with Hannah to take care of the preparations before the planned big day in Scotland.  The place of their meeting is said to be “Grace Church.”  As a Catholic, I had hopes that this was going to be a place of worship of the Roman persuasion.  After all, the parish at which I was confirmed is called St. Mary Our Lady of Grace.  It is not the only place with the word “Grace” where Catholicism is the religion for the worshippers.  Finally, though none of them to my knowledge have such a simple title, I can easily chalk that up the name as a Hollywood faux pas.  Next, Reverend Foote comes out to meet the two wearing the clericals that us who call ourselves Catholic would expect their clergy to be sporting.  It is the black suit with the white collar.  Again, I have to hedge my interpretation.  There are other Christian denominations that use this style for their preachers.  Still, between the name of the church and Reverend Foote’s attire, I held out hope that I might be watching something pertaining to the Faith.  There was no talk of any Church teachings, but again, this is typical for Hollywood.  My hopes began to fade when we see Reverend Foote in the church in Scotland in ceremonial garb more in line with an Anglican priest than a Catholic one.  This also could have been ignorance on the part of the production designers, but my practiced eye told me otherwise.  What ultimately dashed my Catholic hopes was the wedding at the end.  It is outside on top of one of many New York City buildings.  The Church teaches that such ceremonies need to take place in one of our churches because it is a Sacrament, which I discussed in the introduction.  Dispensations can be given under certain circumstances, but I highly doubt this was part of the calculus when the scene was filmed.

Calculus is probably too fancy of a word to use when talking about Made of Honor.  As I hinted at early on, and commented while watching, it is pretty obvious where the story is going from the beginning.  In other words, you have seen this movie already.