The
Wedding Planner
Review
by : Troy
Brownfield 
Starring:
Jennifer Lopez (Mary), Matthew McConaughey
(Steve/Eddie), Bridgette Wilson (Fran)
Directed by: Adam Shankman
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American Pop Culture at this moment in 2001 might best be
defined by two words: Jennifer Lopez. Let's face it; she's
simply inescapable. Currently camping out on the album charts
with J-Lo and throwing down hit singles like Love Don't Cost
A Thing, you're as likely to hear her on the radio or see
her on MTV or VH-1 as any other artist. The Cell just hit
on DVD a little bit ago. She hosted SNL last week. And her
most recent film, The Wedding Planner, opened at number one.
She's what Olivia Newton-John was in 1978.
It's easy
to see why Lopez appeals to people. I find that women tend
to like her because she's equally tough and, despite her beauty,
accessible. She proved that she could act in Selena and poved
that she could really act in Out of Sight. And as for the
heterosexual male audience, her appeal is blindingly obvious.
Between that rack and that shelf, she's a houseful of furniture.
On it's
own terms, The Wedding Planner doesn't pretend to reach the
levels of The Cell or Out of Sight, but that's not what it's
there for. It's an innocuous romantic comedy that's targeted
on the likeability of Lopez and her co-star, Matthew McConaughey.
On that level, it works very well.
You can
ask my wife: I'm not a big fan of the romantic comedy genre.
Granted, I like Lopez, but I'd be much keener to pay to see
a film in which Chow Yun Fat and Bruce Campbell dispatch rooms
full of zombies as directed by David Fincher. Still, I had
a pretty good time.
Most of
the plot is spelled out by the commercial. Lopez is a wedding
planner who hasn't really found true love herself. McC is
a nice doctor about to get hitched to the stunning Bridgette
Wilson (who you'll recognize from Billy Madison, Mortal Kombat,
or Pete Sampras, depending on your tastes).
What's
really refreshing here is that Wilson isn't played like a
super-bitch. Too often in this genre, the "original girlfriend"
is the villain. Here, Wilson is a nice, career-minded women
who just isn't sure about marriage. On that score, the film
is balanced so that everyone comes off pretty well without
anyone being a real heel.
McC and
Lopez really do work well together. Their scenes are fairly
playful, and I found the whole production to be fairly reminiscent
of the romantic films of the 1940s (especially with a couple
of dances throw in to capitalize on Lopez's prodigous ability
to shake it). [Note: Real quick again with the Olivia Newton-John
comparison, doesn't the whole '40s theme remind you of Xanadu?
Of course, this movie is missing the animated scenes and the
roller skates, but you get the point.]
While
The Wedding Planner isn't going to be my favorite film of
2001, it's a solid date film. And in this reporter's unbiased
opinion, you could always do worse that watching J-Lo do anything
for two hours.
Troy
Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. Sorry
if I overlooked Anaconda on J-Lo's resume, but come on; that
movie sucked.
Email Troy at psikotyk@aol.com.
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