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The Wedding Planner
review by Zach B.
Rated PG-13
Studio: Columbia/Tri-Star
Running Time: 104 minutes
Starring Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey,
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Justin Chambers, Alex Rocco
Written by Pamela Falk & Michael Ellis
Directed by Adam Shankman
Retail Price: $24.98
Features: Audio Commentary with Director Adam Shankman
and Writers Pamela Falk and Michael Ellis, Deleted Scenes
With Optional Commentary by Director Adam Shankman,
Making-Of Featurette, The Dancer and the Cowboy featurette,
Filmographies, Theatrical Trailers
Specs: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby
Digital 5.1, English Dolby Surround, English Closed
Captions, English Subtitles, French Subtitles, Spanish
Subtitles, Scene Selection (28 Chapters)
Jennifer Lopez got nearly thirteen million dollars for
this? Well, more power to her then! Lopez plays Mary Fiore,
a top notch wedding planner who is an expert at planning
every detail for weddings. However, Mary doesn't have much
of a love life herself. She's a perfectionist and that, and
seems a bit too busy coordinating weddings to be busy with
love. However, fate steps in when Dr. Steve Edison (Matthew
McConaughey) saves her from a moving dumpster that's OUT
TO KILL. While sparks fly between them, Steve is already
getting married... and is planning his wedding. Need I go
on? Do you know what happens in the end?
"The Wedding Planner" was a giant success last winter at
the box office despite being bashed by critics. When it
comes down to it, the film is a standard romantic comedy.
You know what's going to happen right from the start (even
the trailer spoils the movie as usual). The characters lack
dimension or depth and are pretty nothing new and exciting.
It's got comedy with some silly moments that we've seen
before, not to mention some ridiculous lines and situations
that just didn't feel or seem right within the context.
Yet what annoyed me so much about this movie was the
pace. Clocking in at 104 minutes, it's just amazing how
things are set up within this movie. It just expects you to
go along with what it offers. What annoyed me is how it
failed to establish some characters as well as relationships
that play an important part within the movie. We're supposed
to label the characters and just take them, this became a
bit frusturating for me. While it will be obvious to some
what role the characters are supposed to be and play, other
fellow film watchers may lack a sense of who they're
supposed to be. As far as the relationship between Mary and
Steve goes... it doesn't take time to really build anything
up between them. They just go out together in an instance
and then they bicker and then... yeah, you know what happens
next. It just rushes into things too quickly and feels a bit
mixed up on how it presents itself. A few scenes really
serve no purpose. Too bad, really. I felt the movie's plot
had some potential actually, but thanks to the writing and
how it's played out it loses that in a heartbeat.
Still, I will give credit to the movie for what it does
right. Shankman, a long time choreographer makes his feature
directing debut here and is pretty decent. The acting is
also pretty good. Lopez is pretty charming and fits the bill
as Mary perfectly, while McConaughey is also good. I wasn't
sure how good he would be, but he's pretty fun to watch
actually and the two have good chemistry. Bridgette
Wilson-Sampras is also pretty amusing and not the usual
"oh-I-have-the-guy-and-I'm-a-bitch" character. Her character
is actually pretty nice and sweet. Kevin Pollak and Fred
Willard also make appearances in an all too brief roles.
Another point of the movie... the casting. Don't get me
wrong, I just praised the acting, but they needed some more
thought or should have at least re-worked the script.
Jennifer Lopez is supposed to be Italian. She doesn't put on
an accident and has her usual voice. While Lopez was born in
New York, we all know she has a Latin influence in her. Top
that off with the guy who plays her father, who's supposed
to be Italian... looks and seems to be Irish (his voice at
least sounded Irish to be). Again, this should have been
worked around a bit.
On a final note, I remember reading a long time ago that
Jennifer Love Hewitt actually thought of the idea for this
movie and was going to get story credit, produce it and
possibly star in it. When the movie came out, I checked
around and see that she really had no part in it after all.
Perhaps someone already the idea that she thought of "in a
dream"? Despite all this, if you love romantic comedies,
you'll probably like this one too... though it's awkwardly
paced and offers nothing new for the genre.
While Columbia/Tri-Star has had some pretty inconsistent
transfers lately, "The Wedding Planner" is one of their
better ones as of late thankfully. It starts out a bit soft
but gets sharp rather quickly. Blemishes and little
annoyances appear pretty often, not to mention some grain
here and there. There is some shimmering too and a lot of
edge enhancment which I found pretty annoying. Still, black
levels are nice and colors are really accurate with good
hues and fleshtones. They do stand out and make the film a
bit nicer to look at. There is a good sharpness to it. The
film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and in the
end, looks pretty good. Personally, I was surprised to see a
movie like this filmed this wide.
"The Wedding Planner" features English 5.1 Dolby Digital
tracks as well as English Dolby Surround tracks. The 5.1
Dolby Digital is surprisingly good. It won't shatter your
home theater, but there are nice ample surrounds as well as
some pretty good .1 LFE extension. The music helps make the
film sound fuller through the channels while surrounds come
through some interesting sequences. The surrounds make the
movie sound a bit better and add more to it, but sometimes I
felt there could have been some better mixing. For an
example, listen to the horse sequence in chapter 17. You'll
see what I mean. Dialogue is clear and easy to hear with
nothing getting in its way. An English Dolby Surround track
is also included, while English closed captions in addition
to subtitles in English, French and Spanish are here as
well.
Though it's not labeled as a special edition, "The
Wedding Planner" has some pretty decent features fans of the
movie will truly enjoy. A Audio Commentary with Director
Adam Shankman and Writers Pamela Falk and Michael Ellis
is included. They make some stupid jokes and offer some
interesting production info. Thankfully, they are very
energetic about the movie and seemed to have a great time
making it. They always talk so you'll never be bored, but
sometimes it becomes a shouting match. It's amazing how they
remember a lot of pretty cool details. It's a very good
track... I liked it better than the movie.
There are Deleted Scenes are presented in rough
non-anamorphic widescreen and two channel sound with
Optional Commentary by Director Adam Shankman.
Shankman's a bit more serious here and a little less
talkative, and it's obvious why the scenes were cut, but he
does offer some explanation.
Two featurettes are included. The Making-Of is
your standard featurette lasting a little over three
minutes, complete with clips from the film and fluffy
interviews with the cast and crew. There's also some
behind-the-scenes clips. The Dancer And The Cowboy
featurette has behind the scenes clips amd clips from the
films. This one lasts three minutes and talks about the
dance sequence and horse scene. It tries to be serious and
has interviews... but considering the run time not much
ground is really covered.
Filmographies are on the disc as well as some
Theatrical Trailers. "The Wedding Planner" is
improperly framed at 1.85:1 widescreen (and anamorphic) with
5.1 Dolby Digital, "My Best Friend's Wedding" is in 1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen, "U-Turn" is in full frame and 5.1
Dolby Digital while "Anaconda" is in 5.1 Dolby Digital and
full frame.
"The Wedding Planner" didn't win me over, but if you're a
sap for a romantic comedy you'll enjoy it more than me.
Complete with a good presentation and fun extras, you may
want to RSVP to this DVD (HOHOHO).
 (1.5/5 - NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
 (3.5/5)
 (2/5)
(3.5/5, NOT an average)
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