While most of my family members sat reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" this afternoon, I went to the movies to see License to Wed. Some of the comic elements were juvenile, yes, but I went in knowing that this was not going to be great cinema. It was exactly what it purported to be: an entertaining diversion and a chic flick.
John Krasinski and Mandy Moore play an engaged couple who are very much in love. This requires a chemistry that is difficult to project, but they made a convincingly adoreable couple. I was familiar with Krasinski's ability as an actor, but Mandy Moore was a pleasant surprise. Robin Williams, in his role as Father Frank, was typically over-the-top in his performance. He was somewhat unpredictable, nonetheless, which is always welcome in chic flicks. He looked older in this film than I had seen him before, and I liked his more mature appearance. He reminded me of an older Mickey Rooney.
Call me old-fashioned, but the only truly offensive aspect of the film to me was its repeated assumption that all couples engage in premarital sex. While the vast majority of couples may sleep together before marriage, there are thousands of couples who observe more traditional standards, and their numbers are on the rise again after decades of decline. I suppose in Hollywood it would have been considered grossly unrealistic to expect the couple to be in love without having sex -- they are probably not even aware that anyone in the real world ever waits. I was pleased that the film did at least point out that statistically couples who live together before marriage are much more likely to divorce. The film's oddly averse attitude toward divorce (one character's divorce was treated as a great moral failing) seemed at odds with its anti-abstinence position.
So if you are a) female, b) not expecting high drama, and c) not severely offended by the assumption that there is no such thing as wedding night consummation anymore, I can recommend this movie to you. *** (out of 5)
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