The Wedding Planner

A romantic comedy about love, destiny and other events you just can't plan for." This is the tagline (or the sentence appearing on movie posters, ads and the trailer) for the "The Wedding Planner." After reading this tagline and seeing the trailer in theaters a few times, I knew exactly what this movie is about and more or less how it would end. "The Wedding Planner" is predictable and basically a fluffy fairy tale.\nDespite all this, I couldn't wait to see it.\nAlthough "The Wedding Planner" doesn't deserve Oscars or the pile of money it probably made last weekend (in relation to some other more deserving films), it is the perfect movie for a certain mood. You've probably experienced this before: the desire to go into a theater, sit back and watch a completely uncomplicated and predictable story with a happy ending. Personally, I think this is the whole point for a good many movies falling into the genre of "chick flick." \nThe story of an anal wedding planner (Jennifer Lopez, who, thanks to this movie, is inexplicably on the cover of every wedding issue of every magazine this month) who has an accident, falls in love with her cute, pediatrician savior (Matthew McConaughey) and finds out he's off limits.\n In no way shape or form does Lopez work in "The Wedding Planner" compare with her surprisingly impressive role in "Out of Sight." But let's just say her acting is far less grating than her singing. McConaughey's main function is to look cute and act dreamy, which he does quite well. Plus, all of this fluff is taking place behind some really nice San Francisco scenery.\n After this review I may never be able to say I have high movie standards without receiving a mass quantity of hate mail. But let me point out something. I think movies should in general strive for creativity and dimension. I like to see a film and spend the next three days talking about the meaning of every detail. But sometimes I just want to go to a movie, see a happy ending and feel good afterwards. I don't want to worry about all the terrible things happening the world or to try and figure out how a surprising twist finale worked with the rest of the plot. I just want to have a good time.\n This weekend I saw two movies: "The Wedding Planner" and "Crouching Tiger..." "Crouching Tiger..." can only be described as amazing: it was thought-provoking, visually stunning and one of the most creative films I've seen in a long time. "The Wedding Planner" is none of these but I still left the theater satsified.