Bodas por encargo

Director Nisha Ganatra and writer Tassie Cameron seem to have most of their experience in TV movies so this little slice of the industry is a change for them. Would that it were wholly successful because it seems as though both had a fine idea for something to say but just didn't know how to make it work. And again, blame the PR folks for making a cover for the DVD that not only seems silly, it has little to do with the story inside.

Pippa McGee (Heather Graham) is a travel writer, a hedonist, and an independent woman who avoids relationships like the plague. The film starts with a goofus dash for a wedding in which she is once again a bridesmaid on the run. After the ceremony she jokes with her best friend Lulu (Sandra Oh) who is equally against long term relationships beyond a quick shag, and she also meets one Ian (David Sutcliffe - Under the Tuscan Sun, Testosterone, Happy Endings etc), a handsome if shy young man who though attracted to Pippa, sees her as dangerous territory.

Pippa soon discovers that her father Malcolm McGee (Bruce Gray), a wealthy successful owner of a magazine conglomerate, is ill, has a heart attack, and though the father and daughter have had a negligible relationship, Pippa offers her help. Of course, her assignment is to be editor of 'Wedding Bells' magazine her departed mother started, and Pippa takes on the epitome of everything she loathes about relationships and marriage and tries to make a go of it. She discovers that Ian is her father's vice president and thus in charge of her new and loathed assignment. Pippa partners with the handsome magazine photographer Hemingway Jones (Taye Diggs), has a fling, and becomes close friends and partners in an attempt to change the look of the wedding magazine. There are far too many subplots to discuss, but suffice it to say that changes occur in the personalities of everyone involved and the ending, while entirely predictable, has enough humor and warmth to make a good evening out of a shaky story.

Heather Graham handles her 'challengingly bad' role with great aplomb: she is a delight to watch. The remainder of the cast does their best with the lines they're given. This is a bit of fluff, aimed at the 'chick flick' devotees, but it has its moments. Grady Harp, July 06

Heather Graham stars in this pretty pink lace bow of a movie, alternately flashing her pearly white smile and puppy dog eyes from scene to scene. One gets the feeling that watching the straight-to-DVD release with you are thousands of sorority girls braiding each other's hair while wearing fluffy animal slippers and pretending to cry.

Graham plays Pippa McGee (a movie name if there ever was one), a free spirit (slut) with a penchant for impulsive decisions (one night stands) and globe hopping adventures (inability to commit). We get the prerequisite explanations for her issues: A mother who died when she was a teenager; A distant father who is too hard on her; A group of friends who have an unspoken pact to remain independent and strong without the help of a man.

Pippa returns from one of her freelance adventure trips to find her father on the verge of a heart-attack and in need of someone to help run one of his magazines... Surprise, surprise... It is a bridal magazine named 'Wedding Bells'. And isn't that just the dream job for girls who wear pink pajamas? Needless to say, the magazine causes her problems being that she stands for everything that the magazine condemns. Her first issue is an unqualified disaster.

Then, as per screen writing 101, she meets two guys who will inevitably form the other two corners of the film's love triangle. Taye Diggs plays the studly photographer who shares Pippa's love for non-committal sex and fun. David Sutcliffe plays the straight-laced business man who wants more from Pippa than a quickie in the hot-tub.

I am one of the biggest romantics you'll meet, but even I have nothing but respect for singles who feel that marriage is a ludicrous institution that is either ultimately doomed to fail or descend into a comfortable acceptance of routine and safe boredom. This film seems to be championing the notion that women shouldn't feel the need to 'find a man' in order to feel complete. But the final act pulls the rug from under that notion and the movie fizzles into a standard rom-com riddled with "You Go Girlfriend" scenes and cheesy b-grade love songs.

Now... I think that Heather Graham is utterly underrated as an actress because of a few choice roles as the quintessential ditzy blonde with big boobs. But she has actually been far better than people give her credit for in films like "Boogie Nights", "Two Girls & a Guy", "Sidewalks of New York", "Swingers" & "The Guru". She is quite easily capable of carrying a film with energy and charisma. She is even good in this fluffy film despite having little to work with in terms of a script.

I liked the pace of the film. I thought Heather was fun to watch. The romances are cutesy, if not substantive. The 'friends' are amusing from time to time, led by the always refreshing Sandra Oh (Sideways) and Sarah Chalke (Scrubs). Diggs and Sutcliffe are nice counterpoints to one another. And the overall production was colorfully distracting enough to merit a passable grade. But there isn't anything here to really chew on... well hardly anything. "Cake" is a high-school cheerleader's wet dream of what life might become. I say we let her have that dream before she gets knocked up by the college senior who will dump her, leaving her to drop out of school as a single mom applying for a job at Taco Bell.

TC Candler IndependentCritics.com

In a perfect world, Heather Graham would be as bankable as, say, Julia Roberts.

Graham certainly is prettier than the Pretty Woman, has a better sense of comedic timing and, let's face it, has eyes you could disappear into. (Any straight guy who says otherwise is, well, probably Republican.) Trouble is, Graham isn't going to be America's sweetheart - I don't know if she wants to be - if she keeps making films such as "Cake."

I realize Graham executive-produced this film. What was she thinking? Surely she saw Tassie Cameron's script as just another run-of-the-mill romantic comedy replete with the clichéd love triangle and tired stereotypes.

Perhaps Graham needs a new agent - especially after the "Emily's Reasons Why Not" debacle. She has some good films on her resume -"Bowfinger" (1999), "Boogie Nights" (1997), "Two Girls and a Guy" (1997), "The Ballad of Little Jo" (1993) and "Drugstore Cowboy" (1989). But the roles that stand out are Rollergirl and Felicity Shagwell and it's the clunkers that seem to define her - "Lost in Space" (1998), "Say It Ain't So" (2001) and "Killing Me Softly" (2002). Now, add "Cake" to the mix.

Cameron and director Nisha Ganatra don't even bother masking their film's hackneyed plot. Which is a shame because they have a talented cast. There's Graham, Taye Diggs, Cheryl Hines, Sandra Oh (who's terrific on TV's "Grey's Anatomy") and Sarah Chalke, who knows what it's like to do genuinely funny comedy on TV's "Scrubs," which, for my money, is the best half-hour on TV.

Graham, much like Roberts, isn't a masterful dramatic actress. Her turn as English hooker Mary Kelly in "From Hell" (2001) was admirable, albeit miscast. But Graham clearly knows how to play comedy. She just needs good material. Her nine-episode stint as Dr. Molly Clock on "Scrubs" proved as much.

There's never a moment in "Cake" when you think, "Oh, this is different." Cameron's script is so atrociously lazy that she never bothers to include even the slightest of surprises. Poor Graham flays about buoyantly in a valiant, yet futile, attempt to elicit laughs out of this bad script.

In "Cake," she's Pippa McGee, a spunky, care-free travel writer suddenly forced to take over her dad's magazine - a bridal periodical. There's some humor in the decor of the magazine's offices as this sprightly, independent feminist tries to handle things. But the story is so clunky and her two love interest so unreal and dull, there's not even a modicum of sense to this whole enterprise. Pippa spends such little time with the men that it's asking a lot of us to believe either would work.

As much fun as it is to see the luminescent Graham bounce around, she certainly deserves better than this mediocre fare.

A Freelancing Directionless rich kid is faced with a huge problem, his father is ill and no one is ready to take over the company apparently other than HER. There she tries to bring down the company only to discover that it might be on its last legs.

Ok, this starts horrendously. Nothing really beats a romcom than the most insufferable characterization. Heather Graham's Pippa is a bottom pit person. She is so full of herself that it was so grating. I actually wanted to stop midway how awful she comes off. Graham, as an actress, did not even instinctively tried to make her character at least likable. She just read her lines.

Also, The logical leaps on this one is horrendous. Firstly, there is no reason for her to lead the company. David Sutcliffe's character literally can lead AND is willing to lead. Her action from the start has no sensible reason - especially since she knows what company this is AND also her trying to get it with the photographer is such a icky line crossed especially since she is a boss.

It did get better though. I think once the idea that she actually needs to work for the company is set in motion, at least certain level of likability is achieved in this film. It also makes a lot of her problems at least baked well into the narrative. Its not top notch rom-com by any means but David Sutcliffe (Gilmore Girl Chris fame) and Graham has a certain chemistry in it. It lifts the film on a certain level.

Still not recommended. Very rough start.

Pippa McGee (Heather Graham) is a globe-trotting travel writer. She comes home to be her friend Jane's bridesmaid along with best friend Lulu (Sandra Oh). When her father has a heart attack, she has to take over his magazine Wedding Bells. It's the last magazine she's likely to read and she dismisses marriage. She has a love triangle with photographer Hemingway Jones (Taye Diggs) and her father's right hand man Ian Grey (David Sutcliffe).

This feels and looks more like a TV movie. The bridal magazine world looks unreal. Heather Graham is not good rom-com material. She's flailing around in this movie. None of it is funny. The romantic chemistry isn't there. This is the most disappointing because these are really beautiful human specimens. This is a traditional rom-com done poorly.