The Wedding Date

It's not easy making the transition from sit-com star to big screen lead - just ask any of those Friends. However that doesn't stop Debra Messing (Will and Grace) from taking the plunge with this so slight-it's-not-even-there romantic comedy, which bears more than a passing resemblance to Four Weddings and a Funeral. Messing plays Kat Ellis, a career girl who left England after a nasty break-up, only to discover that her sister is about to marry and the bloke - shock! horror! - who dumped her is the best man. After hiring the services of Nick Mercer, an impossibly dashing male escort (Dermot Mulroney), she tries to save face, but the usual romantic entanglements soon rear their head. The kindest thing that you can say about The Wedding Date is that it is the cinematic equivalent of a decaf cappuccino - all soft froth and no kick. Messing is obviously trying to build a career for herself away from the confines of her small screen persona, but she should have recognised that strictly adhering to the button issue rom com without offering anything even vaguely removed from the uniform is nothing short of a cop out. This is the sort of movie designed for people who thought Notting Hill was a bit too edgy.