License to Wed

Rating:	★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Romantic Comedy

In recent years, I’ve been exposed to a lot of romantic comedies. Some, like “Music and Lyrics” and “Must Love Dogs” were actually pretty good. They were the type of films that made you think that these romantic comedies aren’t just “chick flicks” in disguise. Then there comes a movie like “License to Wed”. A picture so horribly executed that you want to get their scriptwriters and director together to smack them across the head while screaming “What the hell were you thinking?!?!”

Ben Murphy (John Krasinski from “The Office”) and Sadie Jones (Mandy Moore) have been dating for just a few months, yet decide to get married. Sadie’s dream has always been to marry in their local church since her grandfather helped build it. She’s also dreamed of asking their local pastor, Reverend Frank (Robin Williams) to officiate her wedding. Frank seems like the type of priest who his parishioners would love. Too bad for Ben that he’s also overprotective of Sadie and will do anything to make sure she’s marrying the right guy. If that means putting their relationship through the wringer and spying on the lovebirds, Rev. Frank will do it. Can their love survive Frank’s unorthodox tests?

This film is one big ball of confusion. John Krasinski and Mandy Moore look like a good couple, yet they don’t seem to have any real chemistry onscreen. Robin Williams is his usual manic self, but his character of Rev. Frank is just way too annoying. What concerned priest in his right mind would go through such lengths (even resorting to planting bugs to eavesdrop on the couple) to break up a relationship? His equally annoying choir boy (Josh Flitter) was both creepy and ridiculous. Those disgusting robot babies that Rev. Frank dumped on Ben and Sadie seemed like rejects of molds made for Yoda in “Star Wars”! Mandy’s Sadie comes across as such a flighty airhead that she was willing to call off the wedding just because Ben hadn’t written his wedding vows with just one day left till the wedding! How stupid is that?!

For me, the only redeeming factor in this film was a small one. Krasinski became a star on the U.S. version of “The Office”. So it was a pleasant surprise to see a few of his co-stars on the sitcom pop up in this film. Brian Baumgartner, Mindy Kaling, and Angela Kinsey all had little cameos, while the Sandals Resort in Jamaica (where Steve Carell’s character Michael Scott vacationed on the series) was also featured. I consider these as shoutouts to us “Office” fans who want to see John Krasinski do well in his first starring role. After all, director Ken Kwapis directed 9 episodes of the show himself.

As nice as that little touch was, they couldn’t save this horrible disaster. As Jo said, the beginning and end were okay, it’s just that the middle was pretty bad. It wasn’t just bad, it was unwatchable and completely devoid of logic at certain parts. I pray that this does not hinder John Krasinski from getting any more starring roles in the future. For Robin Williams, the days of good acting in films like “Good Will Hunting” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” seem like distant memories now. And for Mandy Moore, here’s more proof that she should just stick to the singing and stop trying to cross over into films. It just isn’t working.