Vanessa (Rachael Leigh Cook) is a beautiful young lady on the verge of marriage. With the ceremony only three days away, Vanessa is having some problems, however. Her rich, good-looking fiancé, Andre (Paul Hopkins), after sowing some wild oats in his twenties, decreed that the couple would not sleep together until after the ceremony, and Vanessa's hormones are raging. She ogles every handsome man she meets on the street and has wild daydreams about going to bed with strangers. That's why she stops at St. Andrews Catholic church and heads for the confessional, so that she can enlist the help of a priest in learning how to handle her impulses. But, what fun, a carpenter, Nick (Kevin Doughty) is inside the "box" making repairs when she comes to confess and she spills the beans to him, instead. Playing along as a young man of the cloth, Nick is struck by Vanessa's beauty and wit. That is why he agrees to meet with her later that evening, for coffee, to discuss the situation in more detail. Naturally, Nick falls for Vanessa and tries to break up the wedding plans. Can he succeed? This film starts off wonderfully, with humor and direction but soon loses sizzle. There are some fun scenes, such as the one where Nick is counseling Vanessa and her bridesmaids during a "girl talk" meeting or another where Nick decides to "mime" a message so that he won't violate confidentiality rules by speaking out of line. LOL. But, the plot wears thin after awhile and becomes pedestrian. Even so, Cook is lovely (as always) and funny, Doughty a stitch, and Hopkins one great "piece" of eye-candy. The costuming is especially wonderful, as are the sets, including Vanessa's knockout apartment and Andre's posh mansion. All in all, if you are a romcom fan, you will chuckle over this one, mostly, and adore the players. But, your overall satisfaction will just make it to the "fair" level by film's end.
Review of My First Wedding
My First Wedding
(2006)
My first impressions were good but the movie loses sizzle half way through
21 February 2008