Susan Granger’s review of “License to Wed” (Warner Bros.)
To get a driver’s license, you need classroom instruction, a learner’s permit, behind-the-wheel training, etc. But to get a marriage license, all you have to do is pay a minimal fee. Perhaps that’s why there’s a 50% divorce rate.
Reverend Frank (Robin Williams) is determined to create happy, life-long unions.or, at least, prevent divorces. So when seemingly compatible couples, like Ben Murphy (John Krasinski) and Sadie Jones (Mandy Moore), schedule a ceremony, they’re required to pass his “foolproof” marriage prep course.
Their ‘homework’ consists of writing their wedding vows, unbeknownst to one another, and not engaging in sex until the honeymoon. The course consists of communication exercises, simulating scenarios that a young couple might not think of or have to deal with until they’re already married – when it’s too late. Like caring for creepy-looking, lifelike animatronic babies that are remotely controlled by Rev. Frank’s cherubic ‘Ministers of Tomorrow’ assistant (Josh Flitter) who programs them – calm, cranky or hysterical – when he’s not sneaking into bedrooms to plant mini-microphones so Rev. Frank can maintain round-the-clock surveillance of the couple’s conversations.
Written by Kim Barker, Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio and directed by Ken Kwapis, it’s more than slightly predictable with pop psychology and sporadic humor. John Krasinski (“The Office”) is amiable but hardly charismatic; the same for singer Mandy Moore. While Robin Williams’ irreverence is always funny, Josh Flitter (“Nancy Drew”) gets the biggest laughs. The only discordant note comes from the underwritten yet overly cynical, misogynistic ‘best man’ (DeRay Davis).
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “License to Wed” is an amusing 7. It’s a droll cautionary tale about the chances of living ‘happily ever after’ – and wait for the zany outtakes during the final credits.
