PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 7/3/07)

Bad things shouldn't happen to Ben and Sadie, the perfect couple on their way to the altar in License to Wed — but they do. Only minutes after being introduced to the young lovers at a Starbucks (the very definition of a "meet cute"), Ben is kneeling in front of Sadie's entire family with a ring in tow. Unfortunately, that is the height of romance in an utterly unromantic exercise in pre-marital mishaps.

The Office's John Krasinski and Mandy Moore play the engaged pair who meet trouble when Moore's Sadie insists on attending pre-marital couple's therapy with her childhood reverend (Robin Williams), so that they can get married in the church of her dreams. Full of fire, brimstone, and something else entirely, Reverend Frank is about as pious as Larry Flynt and nearly as much of a hustler. As he puts Ben and Sadie through the paces of driving blindfolded to build trust and saddles the couple with animatronic twins that burp and fart, Williams' Reverend Frank proves to be little more than an old warhorse of Hollywood comic clichés.

Unfortunately, License to Wed itself is also a one-trick pony, the kind of manufactured comedy that exists in a reality where conflicts are a product of necessity rather than logic and where Mandy Moore is smart enough to run a successful flower boutique, yet can't figure out why her fiancé is so annoyed with her for spilling the secrets of the couple's sex life to their reverend. Director Ken Kwapis, who brought such a light touch to 2005's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and is better known for his work with Krasinski as a resident director on The Office, seems to place his hopes in distracting the audience by cramming the film with Krasinski's TV co-stars (Angela Kinsey, Brian Baumgartner, and Mindy Kaling all show up in small roles). But the tactic only functions as a reminder of Kwapis' small-screen roots, as the film neatly wraps up in an hour and a half and has all the canned humor of a typical sitcom.

Krasinski and Moore are an adorable couple, but marriage material they aren't, especially since they're given a mere ten minutes to form a full-fledged relationship before Williams breathlessly barges into the picture. Although Williams is probably more than capable of unleashing a vicious vicar, his Reverend Frank isn't so much a character as he is a recurring plot point with a PG-13 sense of humor. Neutered and spayed by Kim Barker's listless script, Williams cranks up the shtick and goes with God, though the only prayers that are answered here arrive when License to Wed's end credits begin.

— Stephen Saito