Wedding Planner, The

Wedding Planner, The is rated PG-13:

Always a wedding planner, never a bride. That appears to be the destiny of Mary Fiore (Jennifer Lopez), who works for a very successful San Francisco nuptials business. Meanwhile her widowed father Salvatore (Alex Rocco), spends his days planning her wedding. But first, he needs to find her a man.

On the top of his list is Massimo (Justin Chambers), a playmate from Mary's childhood spent in Italy, whom she best remembers for following her around asking personal questions about her anatomy. With Salvatore's encouragement, Massimo comes to visit, convinced he's engaged to Mary. Even though he's grown up to be a nice considerate man, Mary is resistant to the whole idea.

Besides, Mary has little interest in love at moment, mainly because she's wooing Internet tycoon Fran Donolly (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) who has just announced her engagement. If Mary can close the deal on the biggest wedding of her career, she'll be guaranteed promotion to partner in the company. Even more distracting is Steve (Matthew McConaughey), the suave pediatrician that saves Mary from a runaway garbage dumpster. Sensing a mutual attraction, Mary thinks she may have found her own groom--until she discovers the good doctor is Fran's man.

With all her experience in planning weddings and witnessing break-ups that occur before the confetti has even settled, Mary believes she can predict a marriage's chances based on the couple's color selection and music choice. Yet as I watched her weave through this script, including a near-miss-kiss and all the usual obstacles of falling in love, I could find little evidence that Mary's choices would be destined to greater success.

The lack of understanding about what really makes a relationship displayed by Mary's character, not only presents a fatal flaw in making this a viable romance, but could also be responsible for sending a subtle message to teens regarding what is the most important: The marriage or the wedding. Considering the many mild and moderate profanities and sexual banter (including an extended scene involving a naked male statue with a broken appendage), parents may want to find another bride-to-be.

Studio: 2001 Columbia Pictures.

Overall: C+
This budding romance never comes into full bloom and may leave young viewers confused about making a marriage decision. Moderate/mild profanities throughout. Positive father-daughter relationship depicted.

Violence: A-
A minor accident sends a garbage dumpster careening down a street toward a woman. No one is injured.

Sexual Content: C
Discussion of a young boy (who is now an adult) asking about a woman’s anatomy. Medical pictures of female genitalia seen in background in doctor’s office. Extended scene involving a couple accidentally breaking off a statue’s penis and their repair attempt. Woman about to marry fears having to sexually commit to one man. 2 brief homosexual remarks/situations.

Language: C-
At least: 1 possible sexual expletive, 4 moderate profanities, 12 mild profanities, 20 terms of deity used as profanities or expletives.

Alcohol / Drug Use: C
Adults drinking at weddings, main characters drinking socially but liberally. One character drunk and carrying beer. Doctor friend recommends another beer in the morning to assist the hangover. One minor character, perhaps a doctor, smokes.

Some may argue that you can never know anyone long enough to be certain of having a successful marriage. What attributes do men and women both need to maintain a marriage? Which characters in this movie, if any, display those attributes?

What factors does Mary take into consideration when making her final decision? How long has she known each of the men?

One of our favorite picks for wedding movies is Steve Martin’s remake of Father of the Bride featuring Martin Short as one of the funniest wedding planners you could ever meet.