Main Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, Bridgette Wilson, Justin Chambers, Judy Greer, Fred Willard
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
This lighthearted romantic comedy in the tradition of Runaway Bride (1999) casts Jennifer Lopez in the Julia Roberts mold. Lopez stars as Mary Fiore, an ambitious and successful San Francisco wedding planner who works only for the most wealthy and exclusive clients but who is also a perpetual single. Pressured by her father Sal (Alex Rocco) to settle down, Mary is saved from a collision with an out of control dumpster by Steve Edison (Matthew McConaughey), a successful pediatrician. After sharing a romantic evening and a dance together, Mary learns that Eddie is engaged and that she's being hired by his controlling fiancée Fran (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras), an Internet tycoon, to plan their lavish wedding. The directorial debut of former choreographer Adam Shankman, The Wedding Planner costars Kevin Pollak, Judy Greer, and Kathy Najimy. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
If the road to worldwide diva-hood is paved with romantic comedy vanity projects, Jennifer Lopez tosses off her first with The Wedding Planner, a sloppy mix of exaggerated scenarios and eccentric supporting characters. Perfect coifing and glossy lips define Lopez' performance, which is capable enough at certain lower levels. Blame freshman director Adam Shankman, however, for making it difficult to see her as a businesswoman defined by her superior composure. Defaulting to broadness wherever possible, Shankman subjects Lopez to one frazzled episode after another. This sort of slapstick confusion informs the film throughout, with Judy Greer especially grating as Lopez' jangled assistant. Matthew McConaughey frustrates in a more sedative manner, dispensing the same brand of insultingly lazy charm that's characterized his career to date. The Wedding Planner occasionally touches on likeability after its trying first act, but it never rises above the level of tired retread. More regrettably, it can't capitalize on its one chance at an original perspective: providing insider stuff on orchestrating society's most lavish weddings. What we get instead is Lopez spritzing smelling salts on a besotted father of the bride -- FOB, per her headset acronym-speak -- from the stash stored in her jacket lining, which would make a street hustler envious. Then again, the whole film is built on such simple bits of screenwriting fluff, designed to catch daydreaming future brides in the audience at the height of their susceptibility. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Gregory Bolton - Art Director, Anne Fletcher - Associate Producer, Mary Gail Artz - Casting, Barbara Cohen - Casting, Adam Shankman - Choreography, Mark Morgan - Co-producer, Carrie Morrow - Co-producer, Pamela Withers Chilton - Costume Designer, Gary Marcus - First Assistant Director, Adam Shankman - Director, Lisa Churgin - Editor, Moritz Borman - Executive Producer, Nigel Sinclair - Executive Producer, Guy East - Executive Producer, Mervyn Warren - Composer (Music Score), Michele Kuznetsky - Musical Direction/Supervision, Mary Ramos - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bob Ziembicki - Production Designer, Julio Macat - Cinematographer, Peter Abrams - Producer, Deborah del Prete - Producer, Robert L. Levy - Producer, Jennifer Gibgot - Producer, Gigi Pritzker - Producer, Barbara Munch - Set Designer, Pamela Withers Chilton - Set Designer, Geoffrey Patterson - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Ellis - Screenwriter, Pamela Falk - Screenwriter, Frank Geta - Supervising Sound Editor, Barbara Munch - Set Decorator, Robert "Bobby Z" Zajonc - Pilot
Adam Schankman's lighthearted, somewhat goofy romantic comedy The Wedding Planner has an appropriately romantic soundtrack featuring songs by Lisa Stansfield, Sister Hazel, Dan Finnerty, and excerpts of Mervyn Warren's score. Jessica Riddle's "Symphony," Jessica Sheely's "In Good Time," and Mishelle Bradford-Jones' "Life Is What You Make It" are some of the album's pop highlights, but the soundtrack's cleverest touch is the addition of songs like John Denver's "Annie's Song" and Olivia Newton John's "I Honestly Love You," both mainstays of wedding receptions. Though it's unfortunate that The Wedding Planner's soundtrack doesn't include any musical contributions from the film's star Jennifer Lopez, it's still a fairly entertaining collection of love songs. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
John Denver (Performer), Olivia Newton-John (Performer), Sue Ann Carwell (Performer), Andrew Logan (Executive Producer), Kim Bullard (Producer), Simon James (Concert Master), Julian Raymond (Producer), Sander Selover (Producer), Marc Shaiman (Score Consultant), Tony Shepperd (Engineer), Lisa Stansfield (Performer), Mervyn Warren (Arranger), Mervyn Warren (Producer), Mervyn Warren (Orchestration), Frank Wolf (Engineer), Rob Cavallo (Producer), Nikki Hassman (Performer), Sister Hazel (Performer), Don Nemitz (Orchestration), Jimi Englund (Producer), Pat Sullivan (Mastering), Mary Ramos (Executive Soundtrack Producer), Adam Anders (Producer), Audrey DeRoche (Management), Nobody's Angel (Performer), Jessica Riddle (Performer), Mishelle Bradford-Jones (Performer), Dan Finnerty (Producer), Terry X. (Assistant Music Editor), Adam Shankman (Executive Soundtrack Producer)
Lopez plays a San Francisco wedding planner, Maria 'Mary' Fiore. She is too consumed with planning others' events to worry about her own personal life until she is saved from a nasty accident by Dr. Steve Edison (McConaughey).
Mary and Steve spend a wonderful evening in the park, watching an old movie (Two Tickets To Broadway), dancing and nearly kissing before being interrupted by an untimely rain shower. After glowing to her friends that she had finally found a man that she likes, she soon learns that Edison is engaged to her biggest client Fran Donolly (Wilson).
After the revelation, Mary is reunited with a childhood friend Massimo (Chambers) who asks her to marry him; after a slight hesitation, Mary uses a Scrabble board to spell "OK". Mary reaches the altar with Massimo, but their wedding is halted by her father who knows she is not truly in love with the groom-to-be. Meanwhile, Fran and Steve's wedding fails (due to their own doubts about marriage) and Steve rushes to city hall to try to stop Mary and Massimo's wedding himself. With help from Massimo, Steve finds Mary and asks her to dance at the park where they first met and fell in love.
The original actors set to play Mary and Steve were Jennifer Love Hewitt and Brendan Fraser, respectively. They were replaced with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. Both couples eventually dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, leaving Lopez and McConaughey to be the eventual stars.
The movie debuted at #1, making Lopez the first actress and singer in history to have a film (The Wedding Planner) and an album (J. Lo) at #1 in the same week.
The movie was released on January 26, 2001 debuting at number 1 at the box office with $13,510,293 on the Super Bowl weekend. It grossed $60,400,856 domestically. Worldwide tally was $94,728,529.
