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Cast
Mary Fiore (Jennifer Lopez)
Steve Edison (Matthew McConaughey)
Fran Donolly (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras)
Salvatore (Alex Rocco)
Directed Adam Shankman Written by Pamela Faulk and Mike Ellis
Rated PG-13 for language and some sexual humor
Running Time: 100 minutes Distributed by Columbia Tri-Star
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The
Wedding Planner is a bland film that misfires constantly on
comedy and romance. When it comes to planning weddings, Mary
Fiore (Lopez) is the best in the business. Mary fills the
weddings she works on with beauty and love. However, Mary
has been out of the love loop for a long time. After an unbelievable
accident one day, Mary meets Steve (McConaughey) and immediately
falls for him. Mary soon finds out that the current wedding
she is planning for a bride named Fran (Wilson-Sampras) will
make her salary skyrocket. There is only one problem; Steve
is the man that is marrying Fran. As the two continue to argue,
Mary and Steve rekindle on an understood business relationship
to plan the wedding together. Through both know that the one-day
they spent together should be forgotten, but neither can forget
it.
The
Wedding Planner is another comedy rip-off of My Best Friend’s
Wedding and Father of the Bride. The film overall becomes
so dense that it is neither funny nor moving as it is intended
to be.
Pamela
Faulk and Michael Ellis based their concept for The Wedding
Planner off of an ad in the Learning Annex catalog on "How
to be a Wedding Planner." A lonely wedding planner that searches
for love doesn’t sound like a bad idea for a script; these
writers’ version just didn’t work. The script is so predictable,
cheesy and for the most part fake. I saw the characters as
one-dimensional without any ties or life in them. I also thought
the relationships were dull and the sequencing of the script
seemed lost. Many stupid circumstances and events tie all
the characters together by the end of the film in a typical
manner. Overall, I found that the writers had an idea to work
with for a movie, but the end result was a terrible script.
Adam
Shankman’s direction reflected to me that he was making a
made for television film rather than a motion picture. He
blankly directs certain moments that are presented with a
corny-like feeling. Examples are when Mary reveals her marriage-emergency
pack around her waist, and when she is seen panically putting
on lipstick to impress Steve. The director also didn’t capture
any type of feelings, in which I saw the film’s intention
to be warm and fuzzy. However, the comedy is worse, I only
real laughed at one instant in this film.
Jennifer
Lopez is weary as the workaholic-wedding planner Mary. Lopez
just wasn’t convincing, even though she tried to give her
character some personality. I believe some of it could be
blamed on the "lifeless" script. She is a pretty stable leading
actress; I liked her work in The Cell and was really impressed
with her in Selena. Her counterpart, Matthew McConaughey does
what he can with the character of Steve, but he does do much
either. I really do like McConaughey, he is a good leading
actor, and he just needs to pick better films. Together, Lopez
and McCounaghey reflect that they had a good time making this
film, but the two had hardly any believable on-screen chemistry.
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, who plays the bride Fran, contributes
by smiling a lot and becomes one of the antagonists of the
film. I have seen this cast of actors do a lot better work
before, all of them try to carry this film, but they all come
up short.
Like
I said before, I found The Wedding Planner as sort of a rip-off
that had an idea, but an overall weak script. This film appeals
to a large demographic of moviegoers, so it shouldn’t have
a problem making money.
Report
Card Grade: D+
Beastman’s
Movie Reviews
Copyright, 2001 Joseph C. Tucker
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