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Rev. Frank's course includes a 'parenting' segment

Does the film, directed by Ken Kwapis (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) from a script credited to four different people, give us any reason to root for these characters despite their flaws? Not really. The prologue rushes through Ben and Sadie's courtship too quickly for us to get a sense of them as anything more than a generically cute couple; and in places, the film seems to fumble for clichés without actually finding them. Case in point: Eric Christian Olsen pops up in a few scenes as a friend of Sadie's family whose advice Sadie is supposedly always seeking, and in a typical romantic comedy, he would be Ben's chief rival for Sadie's affections. But his presence barely registers here, and the advice Sadie seeks from him never goes deeper than wedding decorations—and since she raises this topic with Ben, too, he really has no call to be jealous.

Then there is the subplot in which Ben tries to dig up some dirt on Reverend Frank that will discredit him in Sadie's eyes—but when it backfires on Ben, the moment is remarkably non-funny. Indeed, on a certain level, it's almost sanctimonious.

The film isn't a complete dud. At times you can see the filmmakers trying to come up with something a little unusual or different, such as a flip-it book that turns into an animated dream. And anything which gets people to think about what it means to be married, and to commit to someone regardless of the difficulties that come along, can't be all bad. But if ever there was a ceremony or ritual that needed to be called off, it is the one that begins with the act of buying a ticket for this movie.

Talk About It

1. What sort of things do you think couples need to talk about before they get married? Does Reverend Frank's course seem like a good way to get some of those issues out in the open? Why or why not?
2. Do you think Ben and Sadie know each other well enough to get married before they begin taking Reverend Frank's course? What does the movie reveal or not reveal about them and their compatibility?
3. What do you make of Reverend Frank's irreverent approach to life? Should he be treating some things more sacredly? How would you respond to a minister who behaved in real life the way that Reverend Frank behaves in this film?

The Family Corner

License to Wed is rated PG-13 for sexual humor, including a man coming on to his fiancée in bed while a minister spies on them from outside, and language, including a few four-letter words and a few uses of "God" and "Jesus" in vain. The minister frequently makes light of religious matters in ways that some might find irreverent: he keeps a bag of snacks in a hollowed-out Bible, he mocks both charismatic and Catholic forms of prayer after he injures a man, he says things like "Let's get the flock out of here," he makes double entendres and glib references to venereal diseases in a children's class on the Ten Commandments, and so on.

Photos © Copyright Warner Brothers

© Peter T. Chattaway subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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