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In the case of License To Wed
(the latest attempt by Robin Williams to win back his comedy fans after
a string of "I'm Doing Serious Work" flops) it seems the selected words
are: License, To, Wed. Let's face it - chuck those words into the
"Generic Romantic Comedy - O - Meter 2000" and you've got yourself a
movie.
It's pretty straight forward stuff: A newly in love couple (Mandy Moore and The Office's
John Krasinksi) must endure a humiliating obstacle course of a
marriage-training programs in order to gain permission to wed from
their
church's over-the-top reverend (Robin Williams). You pretty much get
the feeling that the sentence you just read was all that was written on
the script, followed swiftly by the phrase: Hilarity Ensues.
While
there are certainly quite a few laughs to be had, a great deal of the
comedy is so forced - you feel like you should check the DVD cover for
stretch marks.
The cast works reasonably well together, with
Kransky delivering a fairly likable "every man" performance (does
anyone else get the feeling he might not be able to deliver outside of
"Bland Man #6") while never really showing anything that could make him
stand apart from the rest. If this is his career launching pad - what
is he offering that sells 'Kransky' as a brand?
Williams often
phones in his performance like he's done it a million times before,
while Mandy Moore supplies eye candy but little else. The real
discovery of License To Wed
is the pint-sized priest protege, Josh Flitter, who is responsible for
most of the laughs based purely on his ability performance - and not
simply relying on the obvious gags served up by the script.
Whether
or not you will be able to remember the name of the film three weeks
after watching it (it's one of those comedies you are bound to describe
as "that movie we watched the other night - you know, the one with
Robin Williams") and the bulk of predictability aside, License To Wed
is still quite a serviceable Friday night Romantic Comedy which is
certainly enough of a distraction after a long week at work. And, most
importantly, when you do get to the inevitable happy ending - you feel
warm and gooey inside.
And that's all one can really ask for. EXTRAS
There's
a few extra scenes as well as a directors commentary, but much like the
movie itself, nothing that will really help it stand out in a crowd of Along Came Polly's, Georgia Rules's, Music & Lyrics' and Serendipity's.
Again,
the real original selling point is 'The Choir Boy' Flitter who delivers
with a cool extra in which you can listen into the radio show of the
pint-sized hero. Really funny stuff.
It will end up in your DVD player at some point, so there's no point trying to avoid it. Conclusion:
Movie 65% Extras: 60%
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