The Wedding Planner Synopsis: Mary Fiore is San Francisco’s most successful supplier of romance and glamor. She knows all the tricks. She knows all the rules. But then she breaks the most important rule of all: she falls in love with the groom.

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Mary (Jennifer Lopez) is a successful New York wedding planner whose romantic life is pretty much DOA. That is until a handsome pediatric doctor saves her from a runaway dumpster in the middle of the street. The two are instantly attracted to each other… at least until Mary realizes that the doctor, Steve Edison (Matthew McConaughey), is the fiance of her new client, Fran. Fran (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) is a wealthy client whose business will cement Mary’s promotion to partner. As the three begin planning the upcoming nuptials, Mary and Steve spend more time together and fall in love.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I watched The Wedding Planner, and I can’t remember what I initially thought of it. But I have to say, this time around, despite my questions and observations, I found it really cute and humorous.

Such as… an engaged Steve attending the movie in the park with Penny (yay Judy Greer!) and Mary when it was undeniable that Penny was working on setting the two of them up… and why Mary didn’t put her foot down about Massimo (Justin Chambers) much earlier in the movie, instead of pretending to be engaged to him. If a man tells important clients you’re engaged when you’re not, correct him; you don’t just look exasperated. Come on!

Anyway, I think Lopez and McConaughey had some delightful chemistry together. I was never a big fan of Lopez, at least not until I saw her fantastic performance in Hustlers, so maybe I’m just rewatching some of her earlier movies with a new appreciation. McConaughey has good and bad moments, but I can admit he’s a pretty good actor.

His role as Steve doesn’t require a lot of acting chops, but he makes Steve a likable guy, despite stepping out on his fiance by falling for the wedding planner. The important thing is that I could understand why Mary was attracted to him, which doesn’t always happen in these movies. His speech to Mary outside of her apartment door was, to me, incredibly romantic and my favorite part of the movie.

The Wedding Planner’s supporting characters were pretty great as well. Wilson-Sampras was perfectly fine as Fran. I was glad they didn’t make her overbearing or high maintenance to vilify her, which would have seemed like the obvious route to get the audience on board with Mary and Steve’s romance. Instead, they gave Fran and Steve an adult relationship, allowing them to communicate as they realized that perhaps they had outgrown one another. Joanna Gleason and Charles Kimbrough got a lot of laughs as Fran’s boozy parents as well. And, of course, every rom-com gets a boost whenever Judy Greer has a role, no matter how small.

Adam Shankman kept The Wedding Planner moving at a tolerable pace. I loved that most of the movie centered around Steve and Mary’s blossoming romance rather than delving into unnecessary side plots as some rom-coms tend to do. They didn’t push some “instant-love” between them but instead created a mutual attraction that became something deeper and believable. I do think it was Lopez and McConaughey’s chemistry that made this re-watch so successful for me.

As a side note, I do think having Love Don’t Cost A Thing play over the credits was an odd choice. It did not fit with the movie whatsoever, but given that Lopez’s “J.Lo” album was released the same week as the film, I suppose the promotion was in the contract.

Watched: 08/14/2020
Notable Song: I Honestly Love You by Olivia Newton-John