The Best Man

Olly leaves his hometown to start university, beginning a new chapter away from Murray. The distance strains their friendship and seeds the eventual rivalry between their paths.

During university, Olly meets James and forms an acquaintance. Murray vomits on James during a confrontation, creating instant animosity that fuels later events.

Olly writes the first two chapters of a novel and an editor pays him $50,000 to finish it. He then suffers a severe writer's block and loses all his money, leaving him financially precarious.

To support himself, Olly takes a job in London as an assistant to Dana, an editor of self-help books for women. He enters the demanding world of publishing and begins navigating professional and romantic temptations.

James plans a wedding in London and throws a celebratory party. Olly arrives late, is drenched by pigeon droppings in Trafalgar Square, and ends up changing into women's trousers to avoid embarrassment.

James wants Olly to be his best man and to deliver a funny, memorable speech at the ceremony. Olly wrestles with the risk of humiliation in front of guests.

Olly feels out of place at the party and is teased by Becka, who owns his trousers, and by Sarah, James's girlfriend. He instantly falls for Sarah on the balcony, while James misreads the situation and thinks Olly loves Becka.

In the pub, the group discusses the mess and Murray plots to cancel the wedding. He schemes to steer events away from a reconciliation and toward Olly’s and Sarah’s eventual acceptance of reality.

Murray phones Sarah on Olly's behalf and fuels a false image of James as a womanizer. He also orchestrates meeting scripts: setting Olly up with Sarah in Selfridges and calling James from a porn shop, all to sow doubt and derail the wedding.

Back at Selfridges, Olly watches Dana try on a wedding dress despite her supposed status. Dana fires Olly the next day; Graham tries to persuade her to rehire him, but she is firm, though their conversation leads to a date.

Sarah discovers red knickers Murray hid to frame James and finds a porn shop number in James's phone. Confronted with these clues, she calls off the wedding.

Murray throws a surprise party for Olly with everyone except James. He admits that he plotted everything and Olly writes a letter to Sarah on James's behalf; James pretends to leave for New York, and Sarah agrees to marry him.

Olly attends James's stag party, where James admits infidelity to Sarah but still pressures toward marriage for money and status. Olly considers telling Sarah but James handcuffs him to a pillar.

Olly frees himself and races to the wedding venue to stop the ceremony. Becka reveals James's affair with his secretary, and Sarah calls off the wedding.

Six months later, Becka and Murray marry while Olly and Sarah end up together. Olly returns to writing and achieves bestseller status with his new book.