| Licence to Wed | |
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Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Ken Kwapis |
| Produced by | Mike Medavoy Robert Simonds |
| Written by | Kim Barker Tim Rasmussen Vince Di Meglio Wayne Lloyd |
| Starring | Robin Williams Mandy Moore John Krasinski Eric Christian Olsen |
| Music by | Christophe Beck |
| Cinematography | John Bailey |
| Editing by | Kathryn Himoff |
| Studio | Village Roadshow Pictures Phoenix Pictures |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 3, 2007 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million |
| Box office | $69,307,224 |
License to Wed (spelled Licence to Wed outside the United States) is a 2007 romantic comedy film starring Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, and John Krasinski and directed by Ken Kwapis. The film was released in theaters on July 3, 2007.
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Sadie Jones (Mandy Moore) has always longed to marry the man of her dreams in her family church. Though she has found her lifetime companion in Ben Murphy (John Krasinski), Sadie is distressed to learn that St. Augustine's has only one wedding slot available over the next two years, though after re-checking their planning book, they find that the wedding can be held in three weeks.
While Sadie and Ben do qualify for the slot, the church's eccentric minister, Reverend Frank (Robin Williams), will not wed the couple until they agree to attend his prenuptial course (shortened, due to the new date, from three months to three weeks). Now as their wedding date draws near, Sadie and Ben must now follow all of Reverend Frank's rules, attend his unusual classes, and complete a series of homework assignments designed specifically to irritate one another — in order to get past puppy love and ensure that their union will have a sound foundation.
In one part of the course, the couple has to care for twin "creepy robot" babies. They get on Ben's last nerve and he destroys one, to the horror of bystanders in a department store. To Ben's dismay, one of Frank's rules is no pre-marital sex. On behalf of Frank, his young assistant (Josh Flitter) breaks into the couple's house and bugs it. Thus, Frank and his assistant can listen to all conversations, though Frank doesn't let his assistant listen to the adult parts. Ben discovers the microphone/ transmitter but does not tell Sadie, for fear she will accuse him of lying and planting the bug himself.
Shortly before the wedding, Sadie changes her mind, among other things because Ben has not prepared marriage vows as Frank instructed them to do, but instead drew a truck. Sadie goes on vacation to Jamaica, their slated honeymoon destination. Ben and Frank travel there too. Ben writes his vows on the sands of the beach to impress Sadie and they reconcile, and Frank marries them there.
Filming partially took place at First Congregational Church in Long Beach, California, as well as other locations around Long Beach. The film is directed by Ken Kwapis, who frequently directs episodes of the U.S. television show The Office. This resulted in appearances from Office cast members, John Krasinski, Angela Kinsey, Mindy Kaling, and Brian Baumgartner.
Critical reaction to the film was overwhelmingly negative. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 7% rating and a critical consensus of "broad and formulaic".[3] Metacritic.com rated it 25 out of 100, citing 21 generally negative reviews out of 30 for its rating.[4] It was reviewed in Variety as "an astonishingly flat romantic comedy, filled with perplexing choices." Numerous reviewers, including Brian Lowry of Variety and MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Philosopher[5] described Williams' character as "creepy" and more worthy of a horror-film villain than a comic lead.
The film grossed $10,422,258 in its opening weekend opening at #4 at the U.S. Box Office behind Live Free or Die Hard, Ratatouille, and Transformers, which opened at the top spot. As of November 11, 2007, License to Wed had grossed $43.8 million domestically and $69.3 million worldwide,[6] both career highs for Mandy Moore as a lead actress, and a box office success after a $35 million reported budget.
For promotion of his film, Williams gave an interview on NBC where he joked about Catholic priests as pedophiles, which prompted critical reaction in some segments of the press.[7][8]
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