Wedding Planner, The : Movie Review


Most studios are rolling out their Golden Globe winners again this Super Bowl-challenged weekend rather than offering new fare. In fact, several ads for last week's winners overwhelm those for the new holdovers. One premiering entry, New Line's teen comedy Sugar & Spice (2001), produced by Wendy Finerman (Forrest Gump (1994)), was not screened for critics. Another new film, Sony/Columbia's The Wedding Planner, probably should not have been either.

John Anderson in Newsday comments that it is one of those movies that make audiences wonder what the studio heads "were thinking, or if they were thinking, or if they were drinking" when they planned it.

In a similar vein, Steven Rosen writes in the Denver Post: "Whoever planned The Wedding Planner should definitely not be allowed near a wedding, or - at least until penance has been paid - another movie. They'll just ruin it."

Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal comments: "As the story unfolded with all the energy of California in a Stage 3 smog alert, I staved off brain death by trying to imagine an alternate version." (Morgenstern then proceeds to describe it.)

A.O. Scott in the New York Times actually does muster up a positive ending for his review: "The Wedding Planner, for all its efforts, doesn't really work," he observes,"but at least it's only an hour and 45 minutes long."

Author : Studio Briefing