Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: John Krascinski, "The Office," comedies
Likes: Mandy Moore, Robin Williams
Dislikes: Cutesy comedies, precocious kid actors
Hates: Seeing favorites fail

The Movie
Ben (John Krasinski, "The Office") and Sadie (Mandy Moore, Saved) are a young couple in love, looking to unite in the eyes of God and the government by getting married. Since she was a little girl, Sadie has dreamed of getting married at her family church (unlike Ben, who wants to have a Caribbean ceremony) but there's one obstacle to that, and that's Reverend Frank (Robin Williams.) With just one wedding slot open in the next two years, coming up quickly in three weeks, Frank seeks to put the couple through an accelerated version of his aggressive pre-marriage testing program to see if they are really ready to join together in holy matrimony. If they pass, they can get married. If not, it could tear them apart.

To this framework, which lets the film pull out all the goofy gags they can, including a pair of disgusting robot babies and a blindfolded drive down busy Chicago streets, the writers and director Ken Kwapis (director on the "The Office") attach an array of screwball antics and cornball emotional moments, populating the scenes with any number of romantic comedy standards, including the opposite-race best friend (DeRay Davis as Ben's henpecked pal Joel) and the perfect ex-boyfriend (Eric Christian Olsen (Not Another Teen Movie) cementing his status as the William Zabka of his generation.) Throw in Sadie's wacky (but, of course, loving) family and a kid who acts like an adult, in the form of a very creepy and aggressive junior-league bible-thumper named Choir Boy (Josh Flitter), and you have taken one from nearly every column of the rom-com menu. They even managed to shoehorn in a musical number or two. If it wasn't for the inclusion of the stars, it would almost feel like a parody, or worse yet Date Movie 2.

It's hard to watch such a solid cast, with two incredibly likeable leads in Krasinski and Moore, flounder with such awkward material, especially when Bob Balaban gets a gift of an uncredited cameo as a jeweler that should be representative of what the movie is, not an exception from the norm. So when Kwapis brings half his "Office" supporting cast to the party, but they barely get screentime (Hey, isn't that...), while Krasinski and Moore deliver some of the most stilted dialogue I've heard from a studio film ("Bite your tongue?" Really?) and the plot has holes the size of a developing country (why her family is on hand for the climax makes little sense), I question what was going on when this film was in development. Was it created to be a fluffy lowest-common-denominator entertainer or did it get there through the awful testing process? Considering the formulaic construction of the film's structure, this one may have been doomed from the start.

One of the bigger problems with the film might be the casting of Williams. Now, it's very fashionable to bag on Williams, whose last quality adult comedy was released back in 1996 (The Birdcage), but it's his presence more than his performance that's the problem. His Reverend Frank is a fun character who doesn't slip into the old Williams standbys like manic stream-of-consciousness runs (much) but he is still too light for a movie that has almost no weight to it. If the story was darker or took a less romanticized angle on the material, at least on a more consistent basis, he would be fine for the film, but Reverend Frank is too silly in a film that's too silly, before becoming too earnest for a film that's too earnest. One can only imagine what this movie would have been if Williams' delivery of the bizarre wedding prep course was the only source of artificiality, and Ben and Sadie were real people suffering his torment. If anyone wants to send us that movie, I'd be glad to watch it.

The DVD
A one-disc release, packed in a standard keepcase, this DVD features a static, anamorphic widescreen main menu with options to watch the film, select scenes, check out special features and adjust languages. Wait long enough, or choose to watch the film, and you get an option between widescreen and full-frame. Language options include English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, while subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French and Spanish. There seems to be a closed captioning track on the disc, but it's empty, and the box lists no closed captioning (likely because of the inclusion of the SDH subtitles.)

The Quality
The very wide 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on this DVD is very nice, with a clean image, a rather solid level of detail, and appropriate color throughout. There's nothing noticeably wrong with the picture, including a lack of dirt and damage and no obvious digital artifacts, though some haloing can be seen along hard edges in some spots,

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is just what you'd expect from a romantic comedy like this, with clear dialogue and some strong music and sound effects on tap. There's little in terms of any dynamic mixing, though a few bits of sound are pushed to the sides and rear to enhance the atmosphere, especially during one of the film's action sequences.

The Extras
The first and best extra is a collection of five deleted scenes, 12:27 in all, which include some substantial moments that didn't need to be in the film, but are interesting to see, like the bachlor/bachlorette parties and a deeper introduction of the Carlisle character. (These can not be selected separately for some reason.) The reason this material is the best extra though is the optional commentator by Kwapis, who puts the scenes in context and explains why they were cut, which is exactly what's needed when it comes to deleted scenes. Interestingly, there's no feature-length commentary for the film, which makes me wonder who chose to not have him talk about the movie as a whole.

The other extra is a collection of call-in questions to a radio show hosted by the Choir Boy. If you liked his act in the movie, you get more of the same here, which at the same time means if you hated the little bugger, you'll struggle to sit through this interactive section, which lets you choose phone lines to plunk down, activating the 12 or so video clips. It gets an A for effort, but the results aren't getting any extra credit.

The Bottom Line
One of the stars of "The Office" paired with the adorable star of Saved, in a comedy helmed by one of the gurus from "The Office." How could you go wrong? Let me count the ways... A cloying storyline, dialogue that's severely unnatural at times, and a lack of reality when it's desperately needed, make the film feel longer than its short run-time, and make you sad to see how a quality cast can go to waste. The DVD looks and sounds pretty nice, while the slim group of supplements ranging from good to pointless. Fans of "The Office" have plenty of reason to check the movie out, but few others do, which is a real shame when you consider the talent of the cast and director. On the other hand, my wife laughed, cried and thought it was great, so maybe it's just a chick flick and I missed the point.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.