LADIES, ladies what better way to while away a few hours than a trip to Fox's latest chick flick.

Of course, some manage to conjure a genuine dash of sentiment light-hearted ingredients, but The Wedding Date does not.

The plot is weak and littered with vomit inducing romantic phrases, but make no mistake, the aesthetic element is fantastic and very watchable - even if the outcome can be predicted in opening 15 minutes.

In this case the designated victim is Kat Ellis, (Debra Messing from Will and Grace fame), a single New Yorker who panics when she finds out her sister, Amy, is getting married.

Even worse, the best man, played by Jeremy Sheffield, the delicious former surgeon in Holby City, happens to be Kat's former boyfriend - who inexplicably, unexpectedly and unceremoniously dumped her two years earlier, thereby rendering her incapable of finding romance ever again.

And, with no Mr Right on the horizon, she'd desperate find a stand-in to accompany her to the impending nuptials and drive her ex-mad with jealousy.

So, as you do, she hires New York's hottest male escort, stylish Nick Mercer played by Dermot Mulroney, back in marriage mode eight years after starring in My Best Friend's Wedding.

But will there be time for this pretend couple to keep up the faade long enough to realize they are not pretending anymore?

Director Dana Fox has to step up the contrivances just to get Kat and Nick over to London for the big wedding between Amy and her toffy-nosed fianc.

Like the Cinderella prostitute Julia Roberts played in Pretty Woman, Nick is portrayed with a heart of gold - and a suave exterior to match, making it easy for Kat and the female half of the cinema-going population to ogle him, without ever having to ponder the dirty details of his chosen profession.

I'm not pretending this film has any substance, it is simply a guilt-free, featherweight concoction for ladies to have an ogle at a few of Hollywood's finest male specimens.

6/10 A thinly veiled re-run of a catalogue of romantic comedies and a happy outcome makes it a feel good alternative.