Plan to avoid Wedding Planner
By Eunice Koo Arts Editor
In Adam Shankman's "The Wedding Planner," Jennifer Lopez stars as Mary Fiore, a successful wedding planner whose career is her life. Her professional attitude dictates that she never should become personal with her clients, most especially the grooms. Unexpectedly, a handsome doctor named Steve (Matthew McConaughey) saves her life, and a powerful attraction sparks between them. Mary's organized world dissolves into chaos when she discovers she is planning Steve's wedding to a spoiled, daddy's-girl socialite named Fran.

The movie runs through the stereotypical romantic comedy situations in cookie cutter fashion, but often without any apparent logic. For instance, Fran suddenly leaves for a business trip in the middle of the planning, leaving (surprise!) Mary and Steve alone and in close contact. Up to this point, we have never been given any indication that Fran is a businesswoman; the business trip comes off as a transparent device concocted by the screenwriters to get the two leads in an intimate situation.

The humor is lighthearted, but sometimes seems forced while going overboard. At one point, Steve knocks over a statue, dislodging its penis. When Mary tries to super glue it back on, it gets stuck on Steve's palm. Of course, they continue to calmly exchange witty banter throughout this crisis.

In another scene, Mary is walking down a corridor and the camera zooms in on her butt and holds the close-up for a long enough time to make it ridiculous. Scenes like this are humorous not due to originality or wit, but because they pass the boundaries of outrageousness.

Another ludicrous aspect of the film is that no matter what crazy situation Mary and Steve find themselves in, they are always crisply dressed with great hair. I'm willing to write this off as comic escapism; harder to swallow is the one-dimensional perfection of Steve. He is invariably charming, sensitive, intelligent and dressed in shirts that bring out his blue eyes. Do men like this exist? Possibly. Do they make for compelling characters? Not really.

Lopez and McConaughey struggle mightily to breathe life into their characters, but they can't lift the weight of a generic and flat plot. With its triangle of socialite, charming fiancee and desperate woman, the film plays like a bad version of another movie with "Wedding" in its title (hint: think Julia Roberts), Unless you dig uneventful, pointless movies, don't waste any time or money on this one.

Issue 14, Submitted 2001-02-07 20:26:16