The Wedding Date
Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney don't exactly scream out A list, but this modest movie is exactly what it intends to be; a small, easy, romantic fantasy that holds only a passing similarity to reality. Anyone who saw the trailer knows that Messing hires an escort to be her date at her sister's wedding, and the movie wisely establishes this under the credits, so that we don't have to slog through 20 minutes of what everyone already knows will happen. The ridiculousness of the whole conceit has to just be swallowed or you're in for a rough time, but the world loved the opposite sex version in Pretty Woman, so here's a chance for the rest of us, who want to ogle Mulroney, and, really, he's looking quite nice. Messing and Mulroney have a nice chemistry, and the script zips right along, so that 79 minutes later, you're hitting rewind with a smile on your face. If only other silly, pleasantly unambitious movies were as swift. This is a good one to have on while reading the Sunday paper.

Monster-in-Law
Jane Fonda is back, and I couldn't be happier. One of the top actresses of the seminal 1970s, she starred in powerful pictures like Klute and Coming Home, and if you haven't seen those, go rent them right now. The fact that she's in a silly comedy is not immediate cause for concern. After all, she starred in hits like Fun With Dick and Jane and Cat Ballou, but this isn't quite on that level. Still, she's welcome to anything she wants just for returning, and I hope there's plenty more to come. Here, she plays mostly off the typically caustic Wanda Sykes, the long suffering assistant to Fonda's diva newswoman. When a milquetoast Michael Vartan brings home the rather blah Jennifer Lopez (again asked simply to play sweet), can you blame Fonda for being unhappy? I was. Too bad this whole movie wasn't just about Fonda, instead of the unfortunate love story, which morphs into the rivalry between the two women. If only the picture was brave enough to go further than simple spilled drinks or messed up clothes. I wanted to see blood. The DVD version unnecessarily offers up two discs. The second has deleted scenes, bloopers, etc.

A Home at the End of the World
Based on the Michael Cunningham novel (The Hours), and adapted by him into this screenplay, A Home is a multi-decade tale of two boys who become friends and lovers, falling into and out of each others lives over time. Robin Wright Penn shows up as a punk rock chick in the NYC 1980s CBGB scene, and a welcome Sissy Spacek is the mother of one of the boys, who grows up into Dallas Roberts. Colin Ferrel is the other one, and he learns from Spacek to be a chef, eventually opening a cafe. The heartfelt screenplay is a little bit comedy, a little bit romance, a little bit drama, examining the different ways in hick families form - and come apart. The search for family and home isn't as simple as being born into a nice family and Cunningham looks at these other pathways.