You know walking down the theater aisle that "Made of Honor" probably will go one of two ways: "When Harry Met Sally..." or "My Best Friend's Wedding."

In the first, two strangers-turned-friends take years to realize they are made for each other. In the second, a woman decides after a nine-year friendship that maybe she loves her best friend after all but -- whoops -- he's about to marry someone else.

"Made of Honor" glides on an appealing, attractive cast led by Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan but stumbles at the end and resorts to some pratfalls for laughs. It also, quite understandably, leans mightily on its picturesque, romantic backdrop of the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

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'Made of Honor'

2 1/2 stars = Average
Ratings explained

• Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan.
• Rating: PG-13 for sexual content and language.
• Web site: 'Made of Honor'

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In "Made," characters Tom (Dempsey) and Hannah (Monaghan) have a meet-cute or, in this case, a meet-not-so-cute in 1998 involving randy partygoers and mistaken identity. It's enough to lay the groundwork for a decade-long friendship.

Fast forward to the present, and Tom is now a wealthy New Yorker who invented the cardboard coffee sleeve used by Starbucks, while Hannah works at a museum. Tom is a womanizer whose father (Sydney Pollack) is about to marry wife No. 6, while Hannah is unattached at the moment.

They're best friends although it's evident (to the audience) Hannah might yearn for something more. For his part, Tom tells his basketball buddies he has the best of both worlds: "I can sleep with whoever I want and still get to hang out with Hannah."

But when she goes off to Scotland on a six-week business trip and comes home with a fiance, Tom re-evaluates his feelings for Hannah, even as he agrees to be her male maid of honor. The movie tracks the pair as the big day nears.

"Made of Honor" is a romantic comedy with Tom in the role normally played by a woman. The story is told from his point of view, and when compliments are doled out, they come McDreamy's way. "My God, you're pretty," Tom's father tells him, and the playboy is the site of a worshipful (and unwanted) Web site built by an obsessed admirer.

Directed by Paul Weiland, whose movie "Sixty Six" just played the Pittsburgh Jewish-Israeli Film Festival, "Made of Honor" is like an average dinner served on exquisite china amid splendid surroundings. You're less likely to notice the entree is not exactly extraordinary.

With a screenplay by Adam Sztykiel, Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, it goes for easy laughs as when characters collide in a restaurant -- twice -- and a bridal shower takes an unexpectedly racy turn. It's most at home when Tom is bantering and hanging out with his friends.

The filmmakers found the perfect counterpoint to Dempsey in Kevin McKidd as Hannah's Scottish boyfriend. Dempsey is pretty, but McKidd (NBC's "Journeyman" and HBO's "Rome") is a manly man whose clannish clan makes quite an impression on Hannah.

"Made of Honor" ends with a silly flourish that seems as if it's out of the 1940s instead of modern-day moviedom. But it's not the 1940s, so it doesn't work quite so well.

The movie is no "Iron Man," but then again, it's not designed to be. "Made of Honor" is made to order for women or couples looking for an alternative to the comic-book adaptation and for a romcom with such obvious and memorable film forebears, it's still breezy fun.