Licenza di matrimonio

My friend and I were so excited to see this movie when we saw the trailer to License to Wed, it looked like a fun comedy. But when we heard all the bad reviews, we were a bit hesitant, but we figured that we still wanted to see it and why not? I don't get all the horrible reviews on IMDb, yeah, there were a few things wrong with the movie, but it seemed like nobody really wanted to enjoy this film. I'm not saying this to offend anyone, I just don't get how you could not laugh at least once in this film when it was just a cute romantic comedy that's better than most.

Sadie and Ben are one happy couple, after only six months they feel that they are ready to tie the knot and get married. But Sadie's wishes are to be married in the church her parents got married in and their family minister, Frank. Frank isn't going to give this couple an easy time though, he'll test them from Heaven to Hell to see if they are really ready for marriage and slowly the realize what might be wrong and different in their relationship.

Now, I admit that some of the situations were predictable and unbelievable, but I think if you let go and just have fun, you'll find yourself laughing. This movie was all in good fun; I loved the scene where they have to find out what having kids was like. Those little mechanical babies were so ugly and scary, but so funny! I expected a fun and cute movie and that's what I got with License to Wed, so don't trust the IMDb reviews, just go and have fun!

6/10

"License to Wed" might as well have been called "Meet the Minister," since all the film does is to recycle the nightmare-before-marriage scenario from "Meet the Parents" - albeit with one crucial deviation. Needless to say, lightning rarely strikes twice when it comes to Hollywood happenings and "License to Wed" is no "Meet the Parents." Not by a long shot.

Ben Murphy and Sadie Jones are a young Chicago couple who agree to undergo an intense pre-marital "training course" conducted by an obnoxious local reverend in exchange for being allowed to hold their nuptials at the church Sadie's dearly departed grandfather helped to build. To pass the course, the couple must agree to be abstinent until the wedding night, take care of two fully operational and anatomically correct mechanical infants, and undergo various forms of trauma that even Sigmund Freud himself would have trouble undoing after years of reparative analysis.

As a "Meet the Parents" wannabe, "License to Wed" stumbles right out of the starting gate in that one can imagine suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous humiliation and abuse in order to win the favor of a prospective spouse's PARENTS, but to go through all that just to placate her MINISTER? I don't think so. In no time flat, the laughter turns to frustration as we find ourselves wondering why Ben doesn't just tell the dear old Reverend to go take a hike - or worse - and then seek out some religious establishment with less stringent requirements for walking down the aisle.

And let's face it, there's something more than a trifle off-putting and creepy about an unwed man-of-the-cloth running around with a young boy as his personal protégé and sidekick, planting listening devices in young couple's bedrooms. Even for an alleged comic fantasy such as this one, that may be just a bridge farther than most people will be willing to go in the queasiness department.

John Krasinski and Mandy Moore make an appealing enough couple, and it isn't really their fault that they've been handed a screenplay - written by no fewer than three writers, a sure sign of trouble - filled with cornball humor, heavy-handed slapstick and unappetizing secondary characters. In the role of Reverend Frank, Robin Williams, all cutesy mannerisms and third-rate mugging, hits a new low in teeth-grinding unctuousness, although one likes to believe that, if director Ken Kwapis could have gotten the actor to dial back his performance even a little, this might have been at least a tolerable movie. As it is, though, "License to Wed" is a painful experience that you will have no trouble leaving stranded at the altar.

I thought it was an OK comedy. It made me chuckle at times. Sadie and Ben plan to get married, but first must pass Rev Frank's marriage course. The Rev spies on them and sets up silly tests, like carrying around plastic babies that really cry and poop. I thought that was pretty good. All these tests cause the couple to rethink the marriage an let them see are they really right for each other.

I thought Robin Williams was OK. This was his stereotypical character. His apprentice sidekick kid was just creepy. Everyone else in the film was just average.

FINAL VERDICT: If you like these sort of comedies, then check it out.

Catholic priest Robin Williams (!?) makes couple Mandy Moore and John Krasinski go through a crash course for those about to be married. If they fail the course then he can block the duet from getting hitched. And they say Hollywood is fresh out of innovative ideas. Totally unwanted and dreadful would-be comedy that uses up all its energy and possible assets early on with stupid situation after stupid situation. Even the performers seem like they know they are in a horrid movie that seems so much longer than it really is. As usual with films of the type, we have sitcom scenarios that are hard enough to make interesting over a half hour time slot let alone a cinematic feature which is three times as long. Break out the holy water and exorcise this celluloid. 2 stars out of 5.

This film is about a couple taking a pre-marriage course run by a minister to see if they are ready to me married.

It's a romantic comedy, and hence it follows a predictable formula of good-bad-good. The jokes are good, and it got me laughing a few times. The two leads, Ben & Sadie are attractive and likable. Reverend Frank, on the other hand, tries too hard to be funny and irritating. He is unbelievable and unconvincing. If the movie strips away this pre-marriage course plot, and just let the couple discover for themselves that whether they are right for each other, it would have been even more enjoyable.