Review of Wedding Planner, The

Introduction

Jennifer Lopez plays Mary, an organised, independent and ambitious career woman who seems content on the outside but is sadly missing one thing. Matthew McConaughey stars as Doctor Steve, the man who crosses paths with her. There`s a spark between the two of them and we know Lopez is falling for him but she doesn`t know about his engagement to Bridgette Wilson. Bridgette hires Lopez as her wedding planner and eventually the groom to be and Lopez meet. Well, you can figure the rest out, it gets a little complicated along the way as the story twists and turns while being somewhat formulaic. But come on, a wedding planner and a doctor? I admit, it doesn`t sound like the best situation for a romantic comedy and this is exactly what I thought until I watched it.

Video

The first thing about this film which struck me was the quality of the video transfer and I spent quite a while ignoring the film while it played only to look at the quality. It`s very clean and there`s hardly a speck on it at all. The colours are rich and well balanced with great detail coming through. It helps that the film was well lit and this brings out the richness in the locations and production design. It`s gorgeous to look at.

Audio

The film has a clear, dynamic and well balanced DD5.1 soundtrack. The volume level is spot on and the orchestral score fits in very well too. What else can I say? It`s not an sound effects laden movie but does feature a lot of music in addition to the score and it`s just well reproduced.

Features

First up we get 12 minutes of deleted scenes. It`s not hard to see why these were cut as these would have simply dragged the film downwards and don`t have any uplifting moments at all. The Dancer and the Cowboy is a 3 minute featurette about the dancing scene and the runaway horse scene in the film. There`s a trailer and as usual with all trailers, don`t watch it before the movie unless you`ve seen the film already and lastly the Director Commentary track. Director Adam Shankman plus both of the writers Pamela Falk and Michael Ellis are very entertaining with anecdotes, trivia and generally just talking till the cows come home.

Conclusion

Lopez and McConaughey are really well suited together and it`s nice to see them on screen. In fact I`d say the rest of the ensemble cast are pretty good too. I especially like the Italian Mary`s father has setup to marry her, he`s just funny and provides quite a bit of the light relief.

Although this film is predictable I really didn`t mind and just went with it. Despite my initial reservations about the film I found it to be quite enjoyable. The pace is nice and even and the film doesn`t overstay its welcome running at 99 minutes long. It`s not outstandingly funny, but it did leave me with a wry smile and a happy feeling on the inside. It`s a film with wide appeal and I think it`s worth having for those quiet moments when you`re not sure what you feel like watching. The feel good nature of the film is enough to leave a warm happy smile. :-)