Patrick Dempsey tries to give a new approach to an old romantic-comedy device

By RICK BENTLEY -- McClatchy Newspapers

(Updated Sunday, May 11, 2008, 1:58 AM)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Way back in 1987, Patrick Dempsey appeared in "Can't Buy Me Love" as a young man in love with a girl who saw him only as a friend. Two decades later, Dempsey stars in "Made of Honor," in which he plays a man who is in love with a woman who thinks of him only as a best friend.

She so doesn't think of him in romantic terms that she asks him to be the maid of honor in her wedding. The film opens nationwide today.

Dempsey explains the key to playing this familiar romantic comedy plot is in the approach.

"Well, there's only so many stories when it comes to that. So I think that was the challenge for us. We were like, `OK, this is a predictable story. How do you go about making it interesting and giving it a new point of view?'" says Dempsey. "We just tried to get it back to the dialogue and the spontaneity and things like that."

Dempsey's character in "Made of Honor," Tom, is a financial success, and a bit of a playboy. The constant in his life is Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), his best friends. Tom realizes while Hannah is on a trip to Scotland that he wants to be more than friends.

There's one big complication.

"She goes off and falls in love with this Scottish man, then comes back and asks him to be the maid of honor. At that point he realizes how much he really loves her and that she's the perfect girl for him. Then he has to go and try to figure out how to sabotage the marriage and the wedding," Dempsey says.

One way, suggests Dempsey, this romantic comedy differs from others is that portions of the film were shot in England. Dempsey fell in love with the country during the filming.

He loved it so much, Dempsey says, that his dream is to get his career in a place where he has enough money to live anywhere in world. England would be high on his list.

He's probably pretty close to being able to do that. After years of being out of the spotlight, Dempsey's star began to rise again with his role as "Dr. McDreamy" on ABC-TV's "Grey's Anatomy." That's opened the door for him to do more film roles, especially romantic comedy roles.

"I think the key to acting anymore is really just presence and not being self-conscious and listening and certainly relaxation ... And you just have to accept who you are, the good and the bad of it," Dempsey says.