One of the biggest problems with the wedding romantic comedy genre is that someone usually gets left at the altar at the end. And usually the film has taken some pains to build them up as appealing -- so that we understand why the boy or girl is planning on wedding him/her instead of the ostensible hero/heroine of the piece. And then because it’s just too risky to surprise the viewer or even offer anything but the happy ending we all know it will work out and the boy will get the girl.

Now one of the recent and most satisfying exceptions to this formula came along when Julia Roberts tried and failed to get her best friend to marry her in the wonderfully re-freshing, My Best Friend’s Wedding of which Made of Honor on it’s surface would seem to be a gender altered clone. Tom (Patrick Dempsey) has a best friend Hannah (Mi-chelle Monaghan) a lovely girl he slept with once, and a crippling commitment problem thanks in part to the bad example provided by his much married dad (Sidney Pollack.) When Hannah comes back from a business trip to Scotland with a strapping Scottish lad in tow, Tom is so flabbergasted he embarrasses himself repeatedly at the restaurant where they meet. But alas, even though Colin (the fetching Kevin McKidd lately of Journeyman and Rome ) is a mighty rival with his lovely brogue and manly physique, he somehow can’t measure up to Patrick Dempsey’s bedroom eyes. The worst thing the film can come up with is that he won’t share his cake. He’s just a straw man who Tom bats away with one long kiss in a pub. Before this culminating moment of romantic rec-ognition we get to witness his fey attempts to steal his girl away from Colin. Julia Rob-erts got downright nasty and manipulative. But Tom is as his Dad rightly labels him, a pussy for not fighting hard enough. But it’s enough because earlier we learned that Colin wouldn’t share his chocolate cake.

There are some funny bits with Tom in the "wee" kilt referenced above (the "wee" is as usual over done) and the accidental discovery by Colin that net ball isn't just for girls. There is the beautiful Scottish landscape and the romantic castle but it still all comes down to the ending. But really aren't the best genre films those that can manage to trigger a sense of recognition and at the same time defy our expectations. We know in our hearts that Julia will find someone as she dances with her gay pal Rupert Everett in the last scene, she's Julia Roberts after all. But then again, she didn't get everything, no one gets everything, life just isn't that tidy.

opens May 2, 2008.

Directed by Paul Weiland, written by Adam Sztykiel, Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, produced by Neal H. Moritz. Released by Sony Pictures. Running time: 101 minutes.

With: Patrick Dempsey (Tom), Michelle Monaghan (Hannah), Kevin McKidd (Colin), Kathleen Quinlan (Joan) and Sydney Pollack
(Thomas Sr.)