Permis de mariage

Is it too much to expect even mild entertainment from a Robin Williams film. What happened to the comic genius behind 'Good Morning Vietnam'? The man who turned in a reliable dramatic performance in 'Good Will Hunting' is simply lackluster here. Mandy Moore and John Krasinski are a likable couple subjected to some humiliating 'jokes' by priest Williams. The film doesn't even give us enough time to get to know the young couple. This could have been a cute romantic comedy, but the barrage of juvenile material and creepy jokes make it unsuitable for just about all audiences. Avoid.

Overall 2/10

"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.

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.

License to Wed is exactly what I expected it to be when watching the previews. An overall average movie, nothing mind blowing, but also not impossible to watch.

The movie is a little cliché at points and most of it you have seen before in whatever romantic comedy you decide to think of, but there are a few additions to this movie that made it enjoyable for me.

As a huge fan of the TV show "The Office", I went to the theater the other night hoping that the movie would keep me as entertained as the small screen gem does. If this is what you are hoping for, sorry, its a bit of a let down. However, the simple appearance of a couple of "Office" stars is enjoyable.

The only real beef that I have with the movie overall is Robin Williams' sexed up priest character. I can understand what they were trying to do (humor from sex dialogue), but the conversations seemed uncomfortable to me. A priest becoming sexual isn't that far fetched in this day and age, but really, when your movie makes it look like a priest is hitting on a woman in his marriage counseling class in front of her soon to be husband, just rubs me the wrong way.

License to Wed is neither terrible nor wonderful. My recommendation would be to watch it if you really don't care what you watch and just need a popcorn movie to relax. No huge laughs but no huge let downs either.

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