You’ve seen Meet the Parents, right? Well, here comes Meet the Pastor! Instead of Robert De Niro’s intimidating paternal figure, we get Williams’ oddball religious figure, but everything else remains the same. The character is still the only thing standing in the way of marital bliss between the well-meaning would-be groom and his personality-deprived bride-to-be. There will be awkward moments with the potential in-laws and escalating slapstick abuse that culminates in the alienation of the young man’s fiancée, who must inevitably call off the wedding by the end of the second act. But when hero and antagonist finally bond, the whole debacle will end in wedding bells. It’s a tired formula even when done right, but License to Wed gets it all wrong.
As Ben, Krasinski is stuck with the Ben Stiller role. But where Stiller’s schtick appropriately had him stuttering through various neuroses, Krasinski sticks with the Jim persona he’s crafted for The Office. And while it’s fine for The Office’s Jim to feel like the bemused, calm center of an insane universe, License to Wed’s Ben is supposed to feel perpetually put-upon in order to justify his eventual outbursts. Now, when those angry rants finally come out, he comes across like the asshole.
Moore, who was so close to making me a full-blown fan with her villainous performances in American Dreamz and Saved!, takes a step back into the realm of the bland. But her character’s expressions do help viewers gauge how far they’re into the film. When she stops smiling, you know you’re nearing the end of the second act, and when she resumes smiling, you know the movie’s over.
Then there’s Williams. His Reverend Frank is basically Robin Williams in a clerical collar. The character is arbitrarily zany, hurling out Williams’ standard material with his trademark machine-gun delivery. None of it is funny, and the torturous “marriage course” he puts the engaged couple through is downright absurd. Apparently, reverends have nothing to do Monday through Saturday, giving Frank ample time to bug Ben and Sadie’s apartment and listen to their pillow talk all night. He also gives them two robot babies to care for and flies to Jamaica to witness the couple’s reconciliation. Just how much money is this guy scoring off the collection plate every week?
Avoid this film. This is one engagement that seriously needs to be called off.