Entertaining and lively, ‘Date’ flick is just that

In theaters

“THE WEDDING DATE,” directed by Clare Kilner, written by Dana Fox, 90 minutes, rated PG-13.

Clare Kilner’s cute, formulaic romp, “The Wedding Date,” follows Kat Ellis (Debra Messing), a desperate Virgin Atlantic employee who hires a gigolo for $6,000 so she can save face at her sister’s wedding in London, where Kat’s ex-fiance, Jeff (Jeremy Sheffield), happens to be best man.

Since it’s Jeff who dumped Kat, she finds it unthinkable to show up at the wedding alone. Call her crazy, but in spite of all that she has going for her – her sense of humor, her charm, her looks, a successful career – her self-worth is nevertheless placed on whom she’s with, not who she is.

And so along comes Nick Mercer (Dermot Mulroney), a smoldering wedge of Wellington with a Brown education to match his bedroom brown eyes. Nick is, as they say, a professional escort, which in Kat’s case doesn’t necessarily mean sex for cash, but the sort of guy who can look good on her arm, read a situation, understand his part in it, flirt with her just enough to make Jeff jealous, and provide the necessary mortar to make sure nothing crumbles during their long weekend abroad.

That is, of course, should he and Kat manage to remain emotionally uninvolved.

Based on a script by Dana Fox, “The Wedding Date” is slight and it knows it. It has no pretentions. It’s an odd little fairy tale about a single woman and her paid stud, with obvious echoes of “Pretty Woman,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” which also starred Mulroney, running throughout.

A compendium of those films is achieved here, and while much of it fails to be new or believable, “Date” still entertains. The film is brisk, the chemistry between Messing and Mulroney is undeniable, sometimes the dialogue is bright, and the stock characters are appealing, particularly Holland Taylor as Kat’s mother, Peter Egan as her father, and Sarah Parish as her ripe, anything-goes cousin.

As for Messing, she’s a movie star. This is her first starring role in a movie and she proves consistently watchable – even if the material isn’t exactly fresh, and even if she is only playing a variation of her character Grace from “Will and Grace.” Is there something deeper for Messing to reveal? Will a better film show us a different side to her talent? Don’t bet against her.

Here’s hoping “The Wedding Date” does well enough at the box office to allow her that chance.

Grade: B

On video and DVD:

“THE NOTEBOOK,” directed by Nick Cassavetes, written by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, 120 minutes, rated PG-13.

Nick Cassavetes’ “The Notebook” is well-done, well-acted schmaltz, a beautifully shot melodrama that overcomes its contrivances by striking just the right romantic tone.

It’s a chic, retro heartwarmer divided into two stories, with its core mystery allegedly hinging on how those stories will collide.

Only the dimmest of bulbs won’t figure it out within the first five minutes, so it’s good news that the movie’s success doesn’t rely on it.

Based on Nicholas Sparks’ dewy best seller, the film opens in a swank nursing home with the elderly Duke (James Garner) reading to the elderly Allie Calhoun (Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes’ mother), a handsome yet frail-looking woman suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

The story Duke shares with her is a romance set in 1940s North Carolina between working-class Noah (Ryan Gosling) and the wealthy Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams), who share a summer romance that blossoms into fierce first love.

That love is threatened as Allie prepares to go off to college in New York and her mother, Anne (Joan Allen), works overtime to sever their relationship. She believes her daughter can find a better man in a better social class, and she succeeds in busting Noah and Allie apart. Years later, Allie becomes engaged to wealthy Lon (James Marsden), whose love for her is strong, but not enough to satisfy her.

And so, on the eve of marriage, Allie seeks out Noah again, thus rekindling a romance that will promise to change her life forever if she has the courage to accept it.

All of this works better onscreen than its rote plot points suggest, particularly because of the unfailing charm of its talented cast. McAdams and Gosling are wonderful together – fresh and spontaneous – while Garner and the underused Rowlands make you pine for what can be lost in old age, and for what can be found in it.

“The Notebook” could have gone wrong for many reasons. But Cassavetes, much like his father, the director John Cassavetes, knows about human relationships, he appreciates his actors, and that combination shows onscreen in the enormous respect he has for both.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 Bangor and WCSH 6 Portland, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.