The Wedding Planner
If you've seen the trailer for the lightweight romantic comedy "The Wedding Planner," you probably think you've seen the entire film.Well, that's not too far from the truth, except to say that the rather revealing theatrical teaser and its accompanying television ad spots are probably more entertaining — and are certainly more to the point — than the movie itself.
Not that it's an unwatchable dud — there are a couple of gags that do hit the target. But the film's many flat, forced attempts at physical and verbal comedy are pretty tiresome, and there are way too many similarities to other movies with the word "wedding" in the title, including a much-better one starring Julia Roberts.
Consequently, "The Wedding Planner" pales in comparison — not only because of the inconsistency of the material but also because, as hard as she tries, Lopez just doesn't have Roberts' flair for light comedy.
The title character here is Mary Fiore (Lopez), an unlucky-in-love twentysomething who's much more successful with her career than she is with her personal life.
For example, she's close to making partner in the company she works for; the promotion is all hers if she can land a huge account, specifically that of Fran Donnolly (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras), daughter of an Internet tycoon.
Despite that, he's still bound and determined to go through with his planned wedding. And if that isn't hard enough for Mary to deal with, her father (Alex Rocco) is trying to marry her off to a childhood friend she hardly even remembers (Justin Chambers).
Considering his prior credits (including stints as the dance and physical-comedy choreographer for such movies as "She's All That" and "Blast from the Past"), "The Wedding Planner" has got to be considered a pretty unsuccessful feature-filmmaking debut for Adam Shankman.
While a pair of dance scenes are handled well, the pacing is off and the physical comedy bits are played far too broadly . . . just a little subtlety would have been nice.
And then there's the glaringly odd choice of having the bland Lopez play an Italian-American character. (Since they weren't choosing actors based on their ethnicity, someone funnier — like Sandra Bullock — probably would have been better choice.)
Not that Lopez is the only cast member who deserves blame. Aside from McConaughey, most of the actors here are sporting exaggerated, affected accents, not the least of which is the broad Italian caricature perpetuated by Anglo-American Chambers, which isn't just embarrassing, it's rather insulting.
"The Wedding Planner" is rated PG-13 for crude sexual gags, one involving the male anatomy of a nude statue, scattered profanity, closeups of the aforementioned nude statue and brief slapstick violence. Running time: 100 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com