Title: License to Wed
Starring: Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, John Krasinski, Christine Taylor, Roxanne Hart
Directed By: Ken Kwapis
Produced By: Bradley Fischer, David Thwaites, Kim Zubick (II)
Genre: Comedy
Release Date: July 3rd, 2007
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual humor and language.
Distributors: Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution
In License To Wed, Robin Williams plays Reverend Frank, an unorthodox (I'll say!) marriage counselor who requires prospective wedding vow takers to complete a “Marriage Preparation Course” before tying the knot in his church. With annoying little sidekick Choir Boy, which isn't his character name, but it's all I could find online, Rev. Frank is about to make Ben and Sadie's engagement a living hell.
License To Wed is actually a romantic comedy masquerading as a Robin Williams movie. On the outside this film can be seen as just another Robin Williams movie but what comes through, subtly at first, is how the bond of love needs to be tempered to become strong. And if anything can do it, it's Rev. Frank's course. Although the film suffers from “Traileritis”, an affliction where all the best scenes are revealed in the trailer, most of those scenes are a bit longer and funnier. The best scene comedy wise has to be the robot baby scenes, where Ben and Sadie are given robotic twin babies to take care of and these things go haywire in a mall. Did I forget to mention that they are also watching a friends two kids at the same time? Now don't get me wrong, the film is a pretty good comedy but for some reason, I was actually able to read a little more into it than what I usually do. The base feeling is that Ben and Sadie love each other and are willing to go through hell to be with each other; although that realization comes at different moments for each of them.
In comedies like this no one really gets to stretch their acting wings. Robin Williams is Robin Williams, John Krasinski basically is the same as his character from The Office, Mandy Moore is pretty much rehashing her character Milly from Because I Said So and is unbelievable as a control freak in denial because she looks too much like a sweetheart. There are quite a few familiar faces peppered throughout the film including Christine Taylor, Eric Christian Olsen and The Office regulars Mindy Kaling, Angela Kinsey, Rachael Harris and Brian Baumgartner. One last mention, there is a kid credited as Choir Boy, played by Josh Flitter. Seems like an afterthought tossed in the script at the last minute, not to mention being a blatant rip off blended from Andy Milonakis and the The Man Show boy. He just annoyed the hell out of me.
While not quite as misrepresented as Man of the Year, License to Wed is not a Robin Williams movie as we know and love him, but it is still a pretty decent romantic comedy that would work as a date movie, or maybe not, seeing as this takes all the things that could go wrong in a marriage and turns it up to 11. But don't distress! There is actually a message and coupled with some decent laughs, License to Wed will provide you with an evening of amusing entertainment.
Until we get Mork and Mindy: The Movie,
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Mitch E
mitchemerson@hotmail.com
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