by Karyn L. Beach

In Robin Williams latest, License to Wed, he plays a reverend who takes an engaged couple through pre-marital counseling. In one scene, he encourages the soon-to-be-groom to engage in an awkward game of word association with his future in-laws. If I were to list a few of the words that come to my mind about License to Wed, it would include words like: vanilla, bland, tedious, and tiresome.

Williams’ Reverend Frank is supposed to preside over the nuptials of Ben (John Krasinski of The Office) and Sadie (Mandy Moore). It’s been Sadie’s dream since childhood to get married by Reverend Frank in St. Augustine’s Chapel, her family church. Unfortunately, the only slot Frank has available in the next two years is just three weeks away. So they must cram three months of premarital counseling into a mere three weeks.

With his reverend-in-training (Josh Flitter) by his side, Frank gives the couple a host of strange and sometimes creepy ‘tests’ from teaching them how to argue, to the aforementioned word association game to bugging their apartment to make sure they don’t have sex before the wedding. As the date approaches and the ‘counseling’ continues, the shiny happy couple begins to crack under the pressure. Will they make it down the alter or fail Frank’s course?

I like John Krasinski on The Office. I think that role works for him because he’s part of an ensemble of talented people. As a leading man, he falls flat. He’s got the charisma of a door knob and frankly that isn’t fun to watch. It’s even less fun when he’s paired with Mandy Moore, an ‘actress’ whose as bland as the beige china her character coos about in the film.

Director Ken Kwapis has directed a number of episodes of The Office (as well as episodes of Malcolm in the Middle and Bernie Mac) and fans of The Office will find some of that show’s characters in supporting roles here. But what works in a 30-minute sitcom doesn’t necessarily fly in a 90-minute feature film. The antics in License to Wed just aren’t big enough or over-the-top enough to make it really funny. And when you have Robin Williams in a leading role, big antics and over-the-top comedy should be mandatory.

Williams is wasted here. He has all of the film’s funny moments, along with some help from 12-year-old Josh Flitter as his apprentice. But you just know had Williams really been allowed to let loose, it could have been so much more. He gets absolutely no help from the anemic and comedy-free performances of Krasinski and Moore.

License to Wed is one union that should be annulled.