LICENSE TO WED: ZERO! STARS
Sadie (Mandy Moore) and Ben (John Krasinski) are young, good-looking and in love. Before they tie the knot Sadie insists that they submit to a marriage preparation course taught by Reverend Frank (Robin Williams). Trouble is the lessons seem to be designed to drive them further apart rather than bring them together. Will they survive Rev. Frank’s teachings and walk down the aisle or will Sadie get cold feet?
I think you already know the answer and that’s the problem with License to Wed. It is the very definition of banal, formulaic romantic comedy and it is one of the worst movies of the year, and that’s saying something in a year that gave us The Hills Have Eyes 2, Wild Hogs and The Reaping.
I don’t even know where to begin describing what’s wrong here, but I’ll give it a go. Firstly someone has to tell Robin Williams to stop. Just stop making every movie that comes down the pike. Please take the time to read the scripts before agreeing to show up on set and grab the paycheck. He makes too many movies, and hasn’t been funny on film for a very long time.
His Rev. Frank is an obsessive control freak disguised as a care giver who should be arrested and thrown in jail, not entrusted with the welfare of young people. Fine. It’s a comedic premise gone wrong. I can accept that. What I can’t accept is how unfunny the movie, and Robin Williams is. The people writing the movie and particularly Rev. Frank’s dialogue seem to have simply swallowed a Henny Youngman joke book, regurgitating gags that we’ve seen and heard many times before and never need to see or hear again.
John Krasinski, so funny as Jim on The Office, and Mandy Moore are both wasted in forgettable, bland leading roles. The only high point is the inclusion of several of Krasinski’s Office cast mates in small supporting roles. As a snotty jewelry store clerk, a nagging wife and overweight belly dancer they inject a small dose of much needed humor to the story, but it’s not enough to rescue this turkey.
License to Wed is wrongheaded on many levels—it’s a silly look at married life, the characters are immature and bland—but it’s biggest sin is that it simply isn’t funny.
