The Pacifier

The Pacifier looks like the same old story about the tough guy (played by a very tough Hollywood actor) who has to take care of kids, and while doing it, falls in love with them as they touch his heart. It started with Arnold in Kindergarten Cop 15 years ago, it happened last month with Ice Cube in Are we there Yet?, and again last week with Tommy Lee Jones in Man of the House. Now it's Vin Diesel's turn, and against the odds, the result is very positive.

It's the story of NAVY SEAL Shane Wolf (Vin Diesel) who's working on an assignment to protect the kids of a recent killed scientist, whose secret experiment it's somewhere in the house, and so the bad guys are going to try to get it. A simple, not relevant story that doesn't hurt the movie at all. What matters are the funny situations the kids get Vin Diesel into, and they are funny.
It mostly revolves around the school, where the two teens, Zoe (Brittany Snow) and Seth (Max Thieriot) are having problems at school, with her coping with her father's death and the classic school jocks making him miserable.
We then have middle schooler Lulu (Morgan York) who's having problems with her Girl Scouts, and finally Peter and the nameless Baby who don't actually have any problems at all other than needing help to go to sleep or having their diapers changed.

Morgan York was my favorite of the kids. She has the funniest and most fun scenes, as well as the better chemistry with Vin Diesel. Brittany Snow started kind of annoying but she then had an awesome crying scene that was truly great.
Vin Diesel himself was great too, funny and also serious and touching when needed.
Brad Garrett plays the school's Vice Principal and he's got some very funny parts as Vin Diesel's nemesis (in the not serious part of the movie). Lauren Graham plays the school Principal and Vin Diesel's love interest and she's great too.

I have to say I was not expecting this at all, I was even trashing the movie before I got into the theatre, but the performances were all good, the comedy was all good (with some very funny stuff happening at all times in the background) and it all made for a really great family movie.

Oscar 2005 Results & Comments

The Winners:

Oscar 2005 Winners

PICTURE
"Million Dollar Baby" (Warner Bros.) A Warner Bros. Pictures Production

DIRECTOR
Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby"

ACTOR
Jamie Foxx, "Ray"

ACTRESS
Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby"

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Morgan Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby"

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, "The Aviator"

ANIMATED FILM
"The Incredibles" (Buena Vista) Brad Bird

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Sideways" (Fox Searchlight/20th Century Fox) Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman (Focus Features) Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth

ART DIRECTION
"The Aviator" (Miramax, Initial Entertainment Group Art Direction: Dante Ferretti and Warner Bros.) Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

CINEMATOGRAPHY
"The Aviator" (Miramax, Initial Entertainment Group Robert Richardsonand Warner Bros.)

COSTUME DESIGN
"The Aviator" (Miramax, Initial Entertainment Group Sandy Powell and Warner Bros.)

DOCUMENTARY
"Born into Brothels" (THINKFilm) Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski - A Red Light Films, Inc. Production

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
"Mighty Times: The Children’s March" Robert Hudson and Bobby Houston - A Tell the Truth Pictures Production

EDITOR
"The Aviator" (Miramax, Initial Entertainment Group Thelma Schoonmaker and Warner Bros.)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"The Sea Inside" Spain, A Sogecine and Himenóptero Production

MAKEUP
"Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events" Valli O’Reilly and Bill Corso, (Paramount and DreamWorks)

ORIGINAL SCORE
"Finding Neverland" (Miramax) Jan A.P. Kaczmarek

ORIGINAL SONG
"Al Otro Lado Del Río" from Music and Lyric by Jorge Drexler

ANIMATED SHORT
"Ryan" Chris Landreth - A Copper Heart Entertainment & National Film Board of Canada Production

LIVE ACTION SHORT
"Wasp" Andrea Arnold - A Cowboy Films Production

SOUND EDITING
"The Incredibles" (Buena Vista) Michael Silvers and Randy Thom

SOUND MIXING
"Ray" (Universal) Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa

VISUAL EFFECTS
"Spider-Man 2" (Sony Pictures Releasing) John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier

My Comments:

All the winners definietely deserved it and there wasn't one winner that one could say that the losers were much better then them. And I'm personally excited because my countryman Jorge Drexler from Uruguay won Best Original Song with "Al Otro Lado del Rio" for The Motorcycle Diaries. I couldn't be happier.

Oscar 2005 Predictions

Here are my predictions for the 2005 Academy Awards.
I'll only predict and detail the big categories but I do have some short comments about the rest.

A locked category is Best Animated Picture which will go to The Incredibles. No doubt about that.
The Screenplay categories should be locked too, with Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor's Sideways (Adapted) and Charlie Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Original) winning. Especially because they are going to be overlooked in the other categories. Still, some say Paul Haggis' Million Dollar Baby could beat Sideways', and that John Logan's The Aviator could beat Eternal Sunshine. I really hope not.
Foreign Film will go to The Sea Inside from Spain, which almost got its star Javier Bardem nominated for best actor, and has gotten lots of awards worldwide. Shame that The Motorcycle Diaries and House of Flying Daggers didn't make it because of their countries selections, as those two would be contenders here.
Best Song I'm going with the Counting Crows and their 'Accidentally in Love' song from Shrek 2, or Josh Groban could win it for his Polar Express' 'Believe' song. Personally, I'm rooting for my home country of Uruguay and Jorge Drexler's 'Al Otro Lado del Rio' song from The Motorcycle Diaries.
Best Visual Effects will go to Spiderman 2, most of the rest of the Technical Awards will go to The Aviator, with The Passion of the Christ winning Best Makeup.

And now the Big Categories:

Best Supporting Actress:
Cate Blanchett, "The Aviator"
Laura Linney, "Kinsey"
Virginia Madsen, "Sideways" - WILL WIN
Sophie Okonedo, "Hotel Rwanda"
Natalie Portman, "Closer" - SHOULD WIN

This is a very hard category, as we the front runners have more reasons to win besides their excellent performances in the movies they're nominated for. I don't think Laura Linney and Sophie Okonedo have chances. Yes, excellent performances, but as good as the other three ladies.
From the other three, Cate Blanchett has against her that she's playing Katherine Hepburn. It's an excellent performance but I don't know if I want to give her the Oscar or to Hepburn. If it's not going to Virginia, it'll go for sure to Cate.
Virginia Madsen is the comeback of the year. She's been working for years and years in B movies, and now she got an excellent part and she was amazing. She has the smallest screen time of them which could work against her but her movie is Sideways, which wont win Best Picture, didn't have the lead Paul Giamatti nominated, and I don't think they're going to give the Oscar to their two Supporting roles (explained later) so Virginia Madsen is going to take the Oscar home.
But the one that should be taking it home is Natalie Portman. Her Closer performance was just perfect. It's her first adult role, but she was so good, had a lot of screen time, and was paired against huge talents like Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen.


Best Supporting Actor:
Alan Alda, "The Aviator"
Thomas Haden Church, "Sideways"
Jamie Foxx, "Collateral"
Morgan Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby" - WILL WIN
Clive Owen, "Closer" - SHOULD WIN

Jamie Foxx's Collateral performance was not supporting, and Alan Alda's part was too small (even Alec Baldwin's part was better in the Aviator), so I'm counting them out. It's all between Freeman, Haden Church and Owen.
Of those three, Clive Owen had the best performance for his movie Closer. The movie was a clash of amazing talents and Owen really came on top with a very powerful performance. He's the one that should win.
The winner will be between Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby and Thomas Haden Church for Sideways. Freeman is due an Oscar, but I don't think he deserves it for this movie. Yes, it's a great performance, but unlike his costars (Hilary Swank and Clint Eastwood), I feel he failed to deliver the great final speech or action in the movie that would give him the Oscar. Haden Church was amazing and like his costar Virginia Madsen, he's making a comeback after years starring in soaps, and he also won most of the critic's awards, but not the Golden Globe nor the SAG award, plus he has against him that his performance is comedic as the Academy tends to go with dramatic performances. Also, I don't think both Sideways' supporting roles will be awarded, so if Virginia wins it at the start of the show, then Haden Church's chances are less, and Freeman will take it for a not perfect performance, but an excellent career.


Best Actress:
Annette Bening, "Being Julia"
Catalina Sandino Moreno, in "Maria Full of Grace"
Imelda Staunton, "Vera Drake"
Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby" - SHOULD & WILL WIN
Kate Winslet, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

Though Kate Winslett was my favorite performance of the year, in my favorite movie of the year, the powerful performance delivered by Hilary Swank can't be not awarded. It's just mindblowing.
I know she really has no competition, but people are still saying Imelda Staunton has a chance, while Annette Bening's buzz has faded. Catalina Sandina Moreno should happy to be there because that spot should've have gone to Uma Thurman, though she wouldn't have a chance against Hilary Swank either.


Best Actor:
Don Cheadle, "Hotel Rwanda"
Johnny Depp, "Finding Neverland"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Aviator"
Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby"
Jamie Foxx, "Ray" - SHOULD & WILL WIN

This is the most locked category, as it's all about Jamie Foxx, who continues to amaze us with excellent performances while receiving prizes like in the Golden Globes or at the Screen Actors Guild awards. It's going to be his, and nothing can stop him like that he's going to lose votes to his Collateral nomination, or that his only real threat, Clint Eastwood, is getting lots of buzz right now. None of that matters, Foxx was perfect.


Best Director:
Martin Scorsese, "The Aviator" - WILL WIN
Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby" - SHOULD WIN
Taylor Hackford, "Ray"
Alexander Payne, "Sideways"
Mike Leigh, "Vera Drake"

It's all about Scorsese once again and how come he doesn't have an Oscar when even Eminem has one. Yes, it's crazy, Martin deserves to have one, but not for the Aviator. He's had better movies, but we wont stop talking about him until he wins. And he shouldn't this year.
Alexander Payne should have a chance to win, as his Sideways was excellent with amazing performances. Hackford and Leigh have no chance.
Clint Eastwood's mighty Million Dollar Baby is powerful, and with better performances. He deserves to win it again, but the Oscarless Scorsese will probably take this one to finally reward him for his great career.


Best Picture:
"The Aviator"
"Finding Neverland"
"Million Dollar Baby" - SHOULD & WILL WIN
"Ray"
"Sideways"

Eternal Sunshine should win, but ok, between the actual nominated movies, Million Dollar Baby is just the perfect drama with the perfect performances and story, and deserves to win. The Aviator is the dream movie that should have been perfect but wasn't, and it was just so overhyped that it didn't live to most people's (like me) expectations.
Sideways was the Critics Choice but it's just too small to compete with the magnitude of The Aviator, and it also falls short in the acting department against Million Dollar Baby's hard hitting performances.
Ray shouldn't be here and Finding Neverland was the early favorite with legs strong enough to get it nominated though there is no buzz around it anymore.
So it should and will be Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby taking the gold, as Million Dollar Baby is the Best Picture of the Year.

Cursed

When I first saw the poster for Cursed, I was skeptical. It reminded me of Scream, a movie I love, and my favorite horror franchise. Great characters and story with a great atmosphere. Then I learned that Cursed was from the same team that made Scream, Kevin Williamson writing it and the master of horror Wes Craven behind the camera and I though, "this is going to be ok, maybe even good". And it is, but not for everybody, specially if you didn't like Scream like I did.

Cursed is a Werewolf version of Scream but with less suspense, less blood but more comedy.
And besides the poster being almost the same as Scream's, the movie plays pretty much like Scream too, with a big name actor dying at the beginning, and then all the rest of the characters trying to figure out which one of them is the 'first werewolf' so they can kill it and stop the curse they got into after the werewolf bit them.
The whole Werewolf's myth makes for a really good story though.

Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Judy Greer, Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Rosenbaum, Mya and Shannon Elizabeth round up the cast and they're all good, only 1 or 2 of them are kind of wasted and were just there to be possible werewolves.

And the werewolves are one of the higher points of the movie. Really well done and the transformations were awesome and it didn't look fake at all. Great movements too.

The only problem I have with the movie is that there's too much comedy, and not the kind Scream has where it works for the movie explaining stuff. Here, a possible gay relation scene here comes to mind, it didn't serve any other purpose other than comedy and it was later used again and again only for laughs.
And the delay the movie had in being released (it was made over a year ago) hurt the movie big time, specially because it's set in the Hollywood scene, specifically in The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn where most of the character's work. Craig left the show last year, so it was weird that the movie was set around the show.

Overall, this is definitely for werewolves fans that are positive about Scream. The result might not be as good as Scream, but will still be good.

***************************************************

Cursed Rethought: I've been meaning to write this for a while, because I write the reviews fresh from the theatre, but then I think and think about it, and sometimes my views change. It happened with last year's Alfie, which disappointed me, but now I love it and watch it every now and then. So that was a change for good, but in Cursed's case is the other way around. I've thought about it and I realize how much it sucks and hate it now. So I publicly retract my comments on the movie and hope I had never posted them.

Rory O'Shea Was Here

Rory O'Shea Was Here is the story of two disabled young Irish guys and their quest for freedom. A great comedic drama that despite having some tough to watch moments, ends on a high note, and make us appreciate life a whole lot more.

Since I'm no expert in this field, I had to look up the disabilities of our two leads on the internet and I found them. Rory has muscular dystrophy, and can only move two fingers of his hand, and he can also talk. Michael has cerebral palsy and can't talk, all he does is make those sounds that we can't understand because we don't know them, but Rory does understand him.
This makes the two became friends, and after Rory's failed attempt to get independent living (because of his irresposibility), Michael, motivated by Rory's free spirited words ("Don't you want to get drunk, get arrested, get laid?" he says) and actions (Rory takes Michael to a pub where they drink, hit on girls, kiss them and almost get into a fight), decided to apply himself for independent living and succeds. Rory goes along with him as Michael needs an interpreter because of his speech problem. Soon after that the two leave the Carrigmore Home for the Disabled, and start living by themselves with the hired help of Siobhan, a young girl working in a supermarket who Rory convices to go work for them despite her not having any experience with disabled people.
The movie shows us the life of Rory and Michael, and how they grow by living by themselves and deal with their physical problems, while trying to do the things they want, like driving a car, and even falling in love.

While the performances by the two not actually disabled actors (James McAvoy plays Rory and Steven Robertson plays Michael) are perfect and the story is very touching and moving, I have a problem with it. Jeffrey Caine wrote the movie, and Damien O'Donnell directed it, and I'm not sure what they tried to do. The touching and moving parts of the movie are contrasted by some very funny sequences of the characters getting to do things they would probably never do (the already mentioned car driving, or going out to a dancing club), we also found ourselves laughing at scenes we shouldn't. It specially hit me a scene of Michael brushing his teeth. Or trying to, as his problem prevents him from grabbing the toothbrush correctly, which falls twice to the floor and we see Michael struggling to get it so he can do something so simple for us like brushing our teeth. I laughed, but then I felt bad.

My final problem is not with the movie itself but with the bad marketing the studios (Focus, Universal, WT2) are doing, particularly the movie's poster. The guy on the left is Michael, the girl on the right is Siobhan (played by Romola Garai), but the guy in the middle I have no idea who he is. He's supposed to be Rory, the title character, the main character, but that guy in the poster's only resemblence to Rory is the hair. Also, by looking at the poster you have no idea that they're disabled. It's not like this makes the movie bad or anything, it's just that you have no idea what's about, you only know that it's Irish because of the O'Shea in the name.

These problems are minor for me, because the movie is excellent, the characters are unique and perfectly portrayed, and it makes you think and appreciate life.

Constantine

The Passion of the Matrix? It's unfair that I have to open like that, because it's a movie based on the Hellblazer comics, which came before Neo and The Passion, but it's true, this movie had too many Matrix like elements. Still, the religious background makes for a great, though sometimes complicated to follow, story.

John Constantine is the name of Keanu Reeves character, kind of like Neo, only that he already knows who he is here and what he has to do. He was born with the hability to see Angels and Demons He took his life when he was a teenager, and was brought back to life after two minutes. Now's he's awaited in Hell once he dies, so he's He's a supernatural exorcist battling demons and trying to make good deeds in order to be accepted in Heaven, which could be soon than expected because of his own personal problems.
Rachel Weisz plays Angela Dodson, a police detective working the case of her twin sister's recent suicide. She gets Constantine to help her as her sister's death is vinculated to him and what he works on. Soon a battle between Heaven and Hell emerges, and we have Constantine in the middle trying to make things right and helping Angela.

Keanu plays it cool and not very charismatic, almost the same as Neo, and it works great here because he understands what he's doing, and so do we most of the time, so we don't need so many explanations. Weisz is also great as the one character trying to figure out what's going on.
Lots of very cool supporting characters too, like Djimon Hounsou's Midnite (a friend of Constantine who hasn't taken sides with Heaven or Hell) and Tilda Swinton's Angel Gabriel. There's also Shia LaBeouf bringing the comedy bits as Constantine's sidekick Chas.
We also get to see The Prince of Darkness himself.
The actions is not as much as I would've liked, but the visual effects are great, specially the gadgets which are excellent like the Dragon's Breath from the trailer.

Overall, I really liked the whole religious stuff in the story, and if I add the great visuals and characters, it's not the classic and amazing Matrix, it's just Constantine and it's very good.

Son of the Mask

How I loved The Mask eleven years ago in immeasurable. I was a kid living in my home country Uruguay, and I didn't go to the movies much, so I didn't see the Jim Carrey career maker (together with Ace Ventura, and internationally of course cause he was known in the US from In Living Color) until it came out on VHS. I remember that weekend, I was at a friend's house and we rented it. We watched it and watched it four times that Saturday, always adding more viewers as we were calling friends to come see it with us. Then I went home that Saturday night, and on Sunday I watched it four more times with my family and friends.
From Carrey's comedy to Cameron Diaz's beauty (this was the movie that made her a superstar too), The Mask was perfect in all senses.
The Son of the Mask is not.

The story starts with the great Alan Cumming (X-men's so awesome Nightcrawler) as Loki, the owner of the Mask. He lost it and is now looking for it under the pressure of his Father Odin, the Norse God of War and Death, played by Bob Hoskins (who's apparently making a comeback with this and Unleashed, a movie with Jet Li to be released in a few weeks). Now, this is a sequel, so I don't know why Loki is looking for the Mask now and not in the original movie. Weird.
Anyway, the Mask is found by Otis, a dog who takes it to his owner's house. The owner and hero of the movie is Tim Avery (played by Jamie Kennedy), an uninspired cartoon animator who can't catch a break at work, nor at home, where his wife Tonya (Traylor Howard) is bugging him with having a baby right now, which he doesn't want.
Soon a costumes party comes and Tim uses the Mask, which transforms him into the green skinned crazy guy we loved in Jim Carrey's hands, but feels and looks really bad in Kennedy's (unlike with Carrey, Kennedy's masked man has hair, and it looks like a piece of plastic, really bad). The party tries to relive the greatness of the original movie's magic party but it doesn't, specifically because Jamie Kennedy is supposedly a good rapper so we get the Mask rapping and it's just horrible. After the party, Tim goes home, makes love to his wife while wearing the Mask, and of course, she ends up pregnant, and soon after she gives birth to the title character.
Long story short, the baby has the powers of the Mask without the need of wearing it, and Loki (who also has powers without the Mask) finds him. Tim now has to deal with the baby, the dog (who's jealous because he doesn't get any attention now), his work, and Loki, who kidnaps the baby so Tim would give him the Mask.

The jokes are bad, I only found funny the sequence with the jealous dog Otis planning how to get rid of the baby. It looked kind of like the Roadrunner and the Coyote's adventures and it was fun. Alan Cumming had the only other few funny parts, while Kennedy sucked while trying to be funny (Mask wearing or not) and while trying to be a dad.
The special effects are not great either, with the baby effects being just horrible (and not a cute baby IMO).
An overall bad and unfunny sequel that was not necessary, and that unlike the original, wont help anyone's career.

Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior

Kind of like those old Jackie Chan movies mixed with Street Fighting, Thailand's Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior comes with great buzz since its Toronto Film Festival debut back in September.

The movie stars Toni Jaa as Ting, a young martial arts expert who finds himself going to the big city sent by the people in his small village to recover a their sacred Buddha's statuette's head that was stolen. They also tell him to contact Humlae, who lives in the city and is the son of one of the villagers.
After getting there and finding Humlae, he learns that Humlae will help him find the statuette's head only if he fights in the street and makies him win money by betting on him.
At this point the movie turns into a series of fights between Ting and big American fighters that get punched and kicked and totally detroyed by Ting's moves.

Toni Jaa is being compared to Bruce Lee too, a mix of Lee and Chan they call him, and he's great fighter, but he lacks the comedic talent of Jackie (though his latest tries like The Tuxedo and The Medallion have not been any good). Jaa's expressions and emotions are nowhere to be seen and this hurts the movie as the story turns bland during the second half and not interesting.
The inclusion of the bad guy as an old man with a tracheotomy and in a wheelchair is funny at first but then just wrong and unfunny.

Despite the stupid storyline and Toni Jaa's zero charisma, his fights and stunts are great and that's what people ultimately want to see and what makes this movie worth watching.

Boogeyman

With a January 2005 full of horror movies released every weekend, February continues the tradition starting with Boogeyman, perhaps the most anticipated one (after a well received trailer last year), and perhaps the worst of them all (hey, at least Alone in the Dark had tits they tell me).

I always complain about horror movies, and I liked them only if they follow at least one of my rules: adult language, gore, nudity and it has to keep me glued to the screen, scared to know what's going to happen next.
I'm sorry to say that Boogeyman had none of that, but it also has bad acting, horrible camera work, and yes, like many these days, a final part that doesn't make sense.

It's the story of a little kid called Tim Jensen, who opens the movie going to bed, and getting scared by things in his room. His father comes to help him get to sleep, and after some verbal exchange about the Boogeyman, who terrifies little Tim, the father goes into the closet, then camera moves and shakes a lot and he's taken by the Boogeyman. This is the only kind of scary scene in the whole movie. You can leave after it and be happy that you saw the only worthy scene in the movie.

Fifteen years pass and we have Tim as a young adult, played by Barry Watson (WB star from 7th Heaven), he's been scared of the Boogeyman since the episode with his father happened and he's still even afraid to go into closets.
He's in the city, and his uncle calls him to let him know that his mother has died, she'd been really bad since the father disappearance which by the way they all think he just left Tim and his mother, because of course the Boogeyman doesn't exists. Or does he?
Tim must go back to his childhood house now, where it all happened, and face his fears.
He'll find his uncle there, his old girlfriend from years ago, and his current girlfriend goes too.

From here on the movie plays with us making us jump at every move the characters do. They open a door, they look up, they turn around, etc, whatever they do, we get the scary sound and the wind blowing. Also, there are no lights at all most of the time. It seems they didn't have much money to pay for electricity or something cause even when they turn on the lights in a room, it never enlightens the whole room, just parts of it, leaving the rest of it in shades.

Oh yeah, that Boogeyman? The first time we see him is around the ending, and it's a disaster. He's on screen maybe for 60 seconds total, and it's not scary at all. It's a guy with a CGI face and he moves very quick so we can't see him properly. Horrible special effects too.

Barry Watson is fine, I'd even say pretty good, but the rest of the actors are really bad. We see the uncle for just a few minutes and he sucks. The two girls are pretty bad too, but they're really hot, so it would all be forgiven with just a tit shown but no, the WB crowd wouldn't approve so lets keep this PG-13, so the movie is not a horror movie anymore, but at least they'll get their money back on opening weekend.

The Wedding Date

In a mix of My Best Friend's Wedding and Pretty Woman, Debra Messing's first starring role is The Wedding Date, a pretty safe but still fun debut, that despite originaly going direct to video, deserves to be getting this release in theatres.

Messing stars as Kat, a single woman going to London for her sister's wedding, who decides to hire a male escort to go with her because she'll have to face her ex-fiancee who dumped her two years ago, and it's now the best man at the wedding. The male escort is non other than Dermot Mulroney who played the best friend about to get married in My Best Friend's Wedding.

As a huge Julia Roberts fan, and having really loved My Best Friend's Wedding, I have to give Debra Messing big thumps up for her work here. She was really good. Funny, adorable and cute, and even going further than many other actresses when it comes to nudity, she has two (almost) nude scenes here with a quick glimpse of a nipple in one the scenes.
The rest of the cast was good too starting with Mulroney who apparently female audiences are really loving. Holland Taylor as Kat's mom Bunny and Sarah Parish as best friend TJ were very brought most of the comedy bits.
The only one that was kind of distracting with her acting was Amy Adams as Kat's soon to be married sister Amy. I really liked her in Catch Me if You Can a few years ago but she wasn't very good here.

Overall, a good romantic that took some ideas (and sometimes copied scenes) from classics of the genre and made it work, specially because of the very likeable Debra Messing who has a very good start, and should keep doing it.