Last week I celebrated the end of midterms by going to the movies ““ yeah, I wish I was a more original film columnist, too.
Anyway, we were about an hour and a dozen cliches into the new Patrick Dempsey film, “Made of Honor,” when it dawned on me: Modern-day romantic comedies revolve around all things weddings.
Let’s see, there’s “27 Dresses,” “The Sweetest Thing,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “The Wedding Planner,” “Wedding Crashers,” “The Bachelor,” and the movie “Made of Honor” copycats “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”
Furthermore, this trend seems far from its pop culture deathbed, with the upcoming Sandra Bullock film “The Proposal” and the “Sex and the City” movie so blatantly centered on Carrie and Mr. Big’s wedding.
I went to my first wedding last weekend and now firmly understand why movies that intend to make audiences feel warm and fuzzy inside focus on this momentous and joyous occasion.
There’s true love ““ or something slightly resembling it ““ beautiful clothes, glamorous locations, booze, dancing and cake, oh my!
But I think frequent romantic comedy directors such as Nora Ephron (“You’ve Got Mail”) and Andy Tennant (“Sweet Home Alabama”) should rethink including this tradition in their next feature films.
One of my many, many complaints with “Made of Honor” was how forced and unrelatable the entire movie felt.
Because the lead female’s fiance is a Scottish duke, a good portion of the film revolves the trite and increasingly stale traditions that go along with weddings, such as family hand-me-downs, the catty bridesmaids barking about who gets to be the maid of honor, bridal showers gone wrong, etc.
Such traditions seem far from our current reality of “I need to have kids before I turn 40″ and “Who am I kidding wearing white?”
For those of you who haven’t noticed, in 21st century America, marriage is far from its “until death do us part” origins.
With an approximate 50 percent divorce rate, why is the movie capital of the world still holding something sacred its audiences hardly take seriously?
It would be nice to believe that when the guy and the girl stand at the altar at the end, these fictitious perfect people will be together forever.
My bet is on drug problems, adultery and whatever else causes so many marriages to take the old irreconcilable differences route on the way back to Singletown, USA.
“Made of Honor” was a major disappointment compared to “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” not just because of the bland acting or pathetic one-liners, but because (Spoiler alert!) the two characters so predictably end up not only together but matrimonially attached.
In the better film, Julia Roberts realistically did not magically end up with the guy whom it took her almost 20 years to fall for.
That ending allows her a little freedom and lets the audience trust that she will eventually find her own prince charming.
Let’s not insult any ticket buyer’s intelligence and pretend like Mr. Awesome and Mrs. Wonderful have no chance of falling out of love and sleeping with each other’s best friends some indeterminable period of time after the credits roll.
I know I am only a simpleminded, naive college student, but next time let’s just do a close-up shot of the happy couple holding hands or sharing a big smooch but leave the “I do” and possible later “I want a divorce” for the imagination.
If you think Stanhope is just a bitter single destined to become an old maid, e-mail her at kstanhope@media.ucla.edu.