License to Wed is a prime example of bad casting and poor story choices. Oh, and some wooden acting. So why is it getting this high of a grade? Because it’s also a lighthearted and watchable flick most of the time.
The story has been blasted out onto the airwaves (through the trailer) already but here goes anyway. John Krasinski and Mandy Moore play an engaged couple and Mandy seeks out the counsel of her zany childhood pastor, Reverend Frank (Robin Williams), to cement the wedding plans. As you can bet the Reverend puts them through all sort of shenanigans to prove that they’re worthy of marriage. We’ll call this the fulcrum of the movie’s funny, and it halfway works some of the time (warning: sentence purposefully made vague).
Now for the problems. John Krasinski plays Jim from The Office here. It’s essentially the same guy which leads me to wonder, can John only play… well, John? If that’s the case we’re in for a long slow crawl towards Nic Cagedom (or Keanu Reevesdom if you prefer). Mandy Moore is also a seemingly very sweet girl but she doesn’t add much in the way of depth to this character. As for Robin Williams he’s the usual mixed bag of annoying or interesting, depending on your mood going in. So that’s the bad casting and the wooden acting. The “poor story choices” charge comes from including Reverend Frank as a comedic foil in the first place. Some of things he does are completely unlikely, some are funny, but this ultimately would have been more interesting with Williams playing it straight. The couple never really gets to bond over his torture, because he’s half on, half off throughout the running time.
The movie makes some good choices too though. It doesn’t always zig when you expect it, and twelve year old Josh Flitter is really solid here. As is Eric Christian Olsen from the hit TV show The Loop. There are also some funny and innovative scenes involving Mandy’s family. It’s the one time that Jim, Mandy, and the gang are really given a chance to explore the studio space and it’s what turns the movie into a slightly above average film.
Something like License to Wed is not really gunning for any sort of serious critique as it’s a breezy summer film. It’s a movie that in a few years no one will remember in the slightest, but that’s inevitable for most movies. If you’re a comedy fiend check it out, and it would also function as a nice date movie. It doesn’t add to the canon of cinema, and there’s nothing really worthy of introspection but you will get some laughs out of it. I’d say that’s good enough for everyone involved with this one, including me.
