A Masterpiece!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

a film about nothing. not a surprise but to use Robin Williams in a comedy far to basic sense is not the inspired option. a movie about marriage, a strange priest, a confuse couple. and that seems be all. in fact, adaptation to a trend who impose easy humor, crazy situations and actors who, in absence of reasonable script, are only shadows of good intentions. sure, a film for teenagers. sure, one of comedies who has not ambition to be decent. but the mixture of wedding , love and religion needs few smart lines of script. in this case, far to be a really blasphemy, it is waist of time. and seed for better expectations. because Robin Williams is more than a star at the end of career.

I love Robin Williams. He always let's loose when he's got a good role behind him but put him in a priest collar and his references become Biblical. Actors John Krasinski and the incredibly attractive Mandy Moore play a couple about to get married, but their family signs them up for pre-marital counseling with Reverend Frank, played by Williams, joined by a mini-me, a junior priest who's half-Oompah-Loompah and half-bobble head. Even with Reverend Frank putting the pressure on them, John and Mandy are simultaneously being sabotaged by his idiot best friend DeRay Davis with the bad advice and her sister, Christine Taylor from "The Brady Bunch" and "Night Of the Demons," reeling from shellshock from her failed marriage. Wanda Sykes also has a cameo as an oddball maternity nurse. Along the way, there are animatronic babies getting assaulted, hidden microphones, a cartoon in the margin of a book, a dog in a collar, two brats with a price gun and a punched-out priest. The plot has a lot more in common with the screwball comedies of the Seventies. It's not a laugh-out loud funny movie. It bogs down in the scenes without Robin Williams, but there are several good lines and the love story does get resolved at the last minute. If you watch this, don't miss the outtakes during the credits.

Funny? A poor schlub that is forced to bend to every mindless whim of his high-maintenance spoiled fiancé? Through the whole movie she, with the help of the sadistic Robin Williams, emasculates the poor guy with one unreasonable demand after the next. Not for one second does she listen to his opinions or consider his needs. In the end, in the last two minutes, all is well and they live happily ever after when he manages to successfully jump through a million hoops and chase her all the way to Jamaica. This movie perfectly illustrates the exploitative nature of "romance" - keep buying the bitch everything she wants, bow and scrape - and in the end you may be granted a few years of listless sex before the inevitable divorce. There is a biological truth to males having to bring food to the female, to prove they are good providers - but this movie perfectly illustrates the infantilazation of the American female - the opposite of liberation, but a return to continued dependency and manipulation.

I saw maybe one or two clips, and passed the DVD cover plenty of times, every time spotting the leading actor, and knowing that was enough to convince me to try it despite the critics' opinions. Basically Sadie Jones (Mandy Moore) and Ben Murphy (John Krasinski) are in love, and after proposing Ben hopes to get married in the Caribbean, but Sadie wants to keep the family tradition and marry in St. Augustine's church. As the preparations get underway, the couple meet the eccentric pastor Reverend Frank (Robin Williams), who informs them that the only recent date available for them to marry is three weeks away, or they can wait two years. To make sure they are truly made for each other, the Reverand is insisting they take a marriage preparation course, Ben doesn't think it's necessary, but Sadie speaks on behalf of both of them and agrees. The only rules Sadie and Ben have is that they have to write their own vows, and they should not have any sexual contact until the happy day, and to make sure they stick to these rules the Revearnd and his sidekick Choir Boy (Ace Ventura Jr.'s Josh Flitter) bug their apartment. The course involves them learning everything a real couple have to go through, including having arguments, taking care of babies (they are given two creepy animatronic twins) and trust tests, e.g. blind-folded driving with guiding. All these tests they are going through is putting pressure on both of them, especially Ben who is determined to find out why Reverand Frank is the way he is, and the truth comes out that he used to be married himself. Sadie walks away from the wedding rehearsal not because of this revelation, but because she doesn't believe he is serious enough to write his vows. Thankfully Ben knows she has used their honeymoon ticket to the Caribbean, so he goes in search for Sadie with Reverand Frank following, and ready to marry them knowing they are good for each other. Also starring Eric Christian Olsen as Carlisle, Christine Taylor as Lindsey Jones, DeRay Davis as Joel, Peter Strauss as Mr. Jones, Grace Zabriskie as Grandma Jones and Monster in Law's Wanda Sykes as Doctor. Williams gets his moments of comedy and one-liners, you just get the sense he is a little too semi-psychotic, but he is the only reason to see the film, it is your usual schmaltzy romantic comedy with everything we have seen before. Adequate!