Sadie does not display an ounce of reason throughout; rather she puts on the blinders and follows whatever Reverend Frank says, no matter how ridiculous. Take, for example, the car driving scene which requires her to be blindfolded while Ben guides her — what reasonable person would do this? Even in a light comedy this is a stretch. Ben, on the other hand, seems to dismiss everything out of hand; he does not come across as someone of faith, and his actions disrespect the beliefs that Sadie appears to have. In short, while they may be superficially compatible, there are some dangerous undercurrents that would eventually tear the two apart.
Enter Reverend Frank. In reality, there does exist pre-marriage counseling, not to this extreme, but it is a common practice, and it's practiced for a reason. What Frank is doing is working at pulling out those undercurrents that run through a couple, in order to bring them out and make them deal with them before stepping into what may be a disaster of a marriage. Better to deal with the heartbreak now than down the line. This is not necessarily the case, it could also prove to show just how much they care for each other and make the bond of marriage that much stronger. So, as you can see, the concept is there, but the execution fails.
The characters are not drawn with any amount of depth. The only time that depth appears is when a character needs to dispense some "deep" revelation that the audience already knows. Another place the film falters is in the inclusion of the nameless kid, the reverend in training played by Josh Flitter. The character was not necessary and just added that many more unfunny moments. It was a throwaway character that should have been deleted in the rewrite phase.
The performers tried their best with what they had. Robin Williams had a few funny moments, and he seemed to be more focused than usual, but the script just wasn't there to provide him with enough material. John Krasinski brought a different interpretation of his Jim character from The Office, and I liked him here, but again, the script fails to deliver. Finally, Mandy Moore is adorable, and is the perfect lead for this type of film. However, she did it better earlier this year with Because I Said So. There was some nice casting in the cameo appearances of Krasinski's Office co-stars — Brian Baumgartner, Mindy Kaling, and Angela Kinsey can all be found here.
Article comments
1 - peggy
I liked the casting of the film License to wed, and there were some very funny moments. However, I found it extremely offensive when they made fun of church practices, and the reverend, who was played by Robin Williams, used foul language at times. His questions to the couple at times were perverted They tried too hard to be funny and came out offending many movie viewers. I would not recommend paying to go see this film!
2 - Belle 2
Interesting. I agree, John Krasinski is an up and coming star and he alone will get me to this movie. My own pre-wedding counseling was a formality only, but hopefully, I will be able to relate to this movie.