License to Wed
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Directed by: Ken Kwapis
Starring:
Robin Williams - Reverend Frank
Mandy Moore - Sadie Jones
John Krasinski - Ben Murphy
Christine Taylor - Lindsey Jones
Josh Flitter - Choir Boy
I could do a massive diatribe against the way License to Wed promotes the meddling of religion into the lives of adults and basically comes to the conclusion that unless you’re willing to have a parent-figure manipulate you and your spouse-to-be so that you learn a very valuable lesson, your relationship will be doomed. I could do a massive diatribe if License to Wed wasn’t such a trifling and forgettable film that doesn’t really deserve a ten-fold effort returned to its half-assed romantic comedy.
Ben (The Office’s affable John Krasinski essentially playing his Jim Halpert role without the trademark camera-gloat) and Sadie (Mandy Moore, not getting to show off the comedic chops she put to great use in Saved! and her guest role on Scrubs) are about to tie the knot. But Sadie wants the wedding at St. Augustine church and for that to happen, they need to pass a series of kooky and inane exercises in the form of a marriage-perparation course taught by the church’s own Reverend Frank (Robin Williams, thankfully keeping his voice impersonations to a minimum). Employing the massive suspension of disbelief that a couple that’s been together for at least six months has never had a fight or is ignorant of what the other wants in bed, Frank takes the two on a whirlwind of increasingly unamusing “exercises” that are designed to prepare them not to get divorced. No one asks why a reverend who has never been married has the authority to teach such a class.
Such constant questions constantly hamstring the proceedings. The film is so busy setting up the next gimmick, that it doesn’t care to make the world even seem somewhat believable. It’s not even that the premise is necessarily bad but the film ignores obvious questions like how a church that’s supposedly suffering from budget cutbacks can afford a surveillance truck, a driver’s education car, and a Family Feud-style board for the Sunday School. Or how about Rev. Frank’s protégé who has apparently overseen many of Frank’s pupils but also had the time to learn how to pick a lock with a credit card. I don’t want to place rules and restrictions on comedy, but License to Wed is constantly skipping or rushing the set-up just so it can get to the punchline.
License to Wed is too lethargic, predictable, and rushed to merit the effort of actually going to the movie theatre and all that entails. When it comes to DVD, it may be worth a free rental, but even then, its barely enough to merit the walk to the mailbox to get the DVD envelope.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
6.28.07