MADE OF HONOUR/MCKIDD IS

Funny title this one. A play on the words Maid of Honour, certainly. But beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. For oddly, the most honourable element in it is a Brit who suffers at the hands of invading Yanks.

Indeed, the whole film is a funny concoction. Following soon on the heels of PS I Love You – American girl travels to Ireland to find love – we have American girl travels to Scotland to find love.

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The wrinkle here is that the man she leaves behind in NY is neither dead nor her husband (as Gerard Butler was in PS). Instead, he is Patrick Dempsey, a long time best friend of the charming girl, Michelle Monaghan, even though their conversations seem to be mainly about his one night stands.

Oh, how adorable!

Whatever, when it seems obvious to her that she will never be more to him than his locker room buddies, she flits over to Scotland for a bit of business and falls for Elgin's strapping Kevin McKidd, from back from TV's Rome and The Virgin Queen, playing one of the best of the best lairds in the land.

If there is anything in the world that McKidd can not do, they have not found a word for it. He grows vegetables, kills stags, brews whisky, creates tartans, tosses the caber. What is not to like?

Indeed, Monaghan is so smitten that she fails to see that her engagement entirely stuns Dempsey and, generously, asks him to be her Maid of Honour.

Finally the heart of the film takes off and there are many opportunities for laughs, leading to the finale at McKidd's palatial seat, just one of his four castles (one for each season), where some kind of resolution has to be found.

It is easy to imagine that this must have been an easy role for Dempsey, because he only has to hate McKidd and, oh, how he must have hated him at times because McKidd gets to have far more fun, including sporting a kilt that actually fits.

Such favouritism can not have been helped by the choice of a British director, Paul Weiland, to direct what is essentially an American movie with a Scottish denouement.

Weiland, who attracted attention for his low budget, coming-of-age film Sixty Six in 2006, has certainly risen to the task, handling the NY scenes almost more deftly that those in the Highlands.

Join the wedding party here.

Made of Honour opens nationwide on May 2, 2008.

Posted May 2, 2008.