There's something about hairdressing salons and romantic comedies that brings out the deeply suppressed human need for the pun - that guiltiest of all comedy pleasures - and be it "Hair Today Gone Tomorrow" or The Beautician And The Beast, the lack of quality of the pun is usually a fair indication of what awaits within Made Of Honor.

Patrick Dempsey (in full-on McDreamy mode) stars as Tom, a millionaire New York playboy with the perfect life: a revolving door of disposable women, with his best friend Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) as a constant platonic companion. When Hannah returns from a business trip with a titled Scottish fianc (Kevin McKidd), a wedding-date already set, and an invitation to be her maid of honour, Tom realises the essential flaw in his arrangement. Together with his basketball buddies (Caricatures? Who, us?) he conceives the kind of inspired plan that could only survive on celluloid, namely to convince Hannah that he is her ideal man by being the best maid of honour ever.

A paper-thin plot does yield enjoyable moments, mostly thanks to the rosy-cheeked charms of Monaghan, whose girl-next-door good looks and charming sincerity make her the fitting heir to Sandra Bullock's rom-com crown. A cameo from Sydney Pollack as Tom's Hefner-esque father also adds much needed bite (something has to help all that saccharine go down), but even this cannot quite save the movie from functioning as little more than an extended Patrick Dempsey promo, with sequences more suited to a Calvin Klein ad than a feature film: Patrick Dempsey posing broodingly on a ferry with hair blowing in the breeze, Patrick Dempsey on horseback galloping through the Scottish countryside, Patrick Dempsey cuddling a to-die-for dog.Talk about product placement.

Better than some, worse than many, this is a comedy as contrived as its title, and ultimately as limp as Patrick Dempsey's (perfect coiffed) locks.