|
|
THE WEDDING PLANNER
Review by David Bruce |
THE WEDDING PLANNER
(2001)
This page was created on January 18, 2001
This page was last updated on May 16, 2005 |
|
 Directed
by Adam Shankman
Written by Pamela Falk & Michael Ellis
Jennifer
Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, Justin Chambers, Bridgette Wilson, Judy
Greer, Alex Rocco, Joanna Gleason,
Produced
by Peter Abrams, Moritz Borman (executive,) Deborah Del Prete, Guy
East (executive), Anne Fletcher (associate), Jennifer Gibgot, Robert
L. Levy, Mark Morgan (co-producer), Carrie Morrow (CO-producer),
Gigi Pritzker, Meg Ryan (executive), Nina R. Sadowsky (executive),
Chris Sievernich (executive), Nigel Sinclair (executive)
Original music by Mervyn Warren
Cinematography by Julio Macat
Film Editing by Lisa Zeno Churgin
Rated
PG-13 for language and some sexual humor.
|
|
QuickTime
8 MB
QuickTime
16 MB
|
  A
romantic comedy
about love, destiny
and other events
you just can't plan for. |
REVIEW
A STORY ABOUT FATE
That
which must necessarily happen.
|
 
Jennifer Lopez stars as a workaholic wedding planner... |
|
... whose dedication to her profession keeps her from finding the
man of her dreams.
|
|
 
When
she finally meets Mr. Right (Matthew McConaughey),
|
... he turns out to be the groom from one of her upcoming weddings.
|
She decides to marry Mr. Wrong on the rebound. |
 
But destiny keeps bring them together. |
|
And so is the dance of life.
Or,
is it thus so?
|
|
It
is a simple plot. We know the end from the beginning. We have seen
stories like this many times before. But it still holds us. We want
to believe in destiny. We want to believe that there is a grand
design behind our lives.
Is
there a special someone?
Is there a purpose for our existence?
Is there a divine design?
|
|
DIFFERING
POETIC VIEWS ON DESTINY
And
God gives to every man
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
Just in the niche he was ordained to fill.
WILLIAM COWPER (1731?1800)
Ask
of the devil, use magic
?still you cannot turn any human being from his destiny.
JEAN DE LA FONTAINE (1621?1695)
Destiny
is a tyrant?s authority for crime
and a fool?s excuse for failure.
AMBROSE GWINNETT BIERCE (1842?C. 1914)
The
tissue of the Life to be
We weave with colors all our own,
And in the field of destiny
We reap as we have sown.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1807?1892)
|
|
DIFFERING
PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS
Adapted from Holman's Bible Dictionary
Fatalism:
the view that all events are determined by an inviolable law of
cause and effect. This was a popular doctrine among the Stoics who
believed that all history and human life was subject to Fate.
Deism:
the idea that God created the world but then withdrew from its day-to-day
governance, leaving it to run by itself as a machine.
Pantheism:
this is the opposite error of deism, for it virtually identifies
God with His creation. God is a kind of World Soul or impersonal
force which permeates all the universe.
Dualism:
the view that two opposing forces in the universe are locked in
struggle with each other for its control. The ancient religions
of Zoroaster and Mani posited two coeternal principles, darkness
and light.
Providence:
Scripture presents God working in various ways to accomplish His
purpose. Often God works through secondary causes such as natural
law or special messengers, such as the angels. Sometimes God effects
His will directly through miracles or other supernatural happenings.
Frequently enough, as William Cowper put it, ?God moves in a mysterious
way His wonders to perform.?
|
WHAT
JESUS TAUGHT
Matthew
6:25-34 The Message Translation
"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows
that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or
whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far
more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more
to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.
Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job
description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more
to him than birds.
"Has
anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by
so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion?do
you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at
the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers.
They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design
quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country
look shabby alongside them.
"If
God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers?most
of which are never even seen?don't you think he'll attend to you,
take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do
here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting,
so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God
and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both
God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative,
God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all
your everyday human concerns will be met.
"Give
your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't
get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will
help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time
comes."
|
|
ABOUT
DESTINY
Subject: Choices or divine intervention?
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001
From: Kim
I
haven't seen this movie yet, but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy
just reading the review! Indeed, why is that? Why do we latch onto
ideas such as fate, destiny, "the one" and the like?
I
like this quote you included:
The
tissue of the Life to be
We weave with colors all our own,
And in the field of destiny
We reap as we have sown.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1807?1892)
We
know we're special and unique (we weave with colors all our own),
and sense there's more to us than just the everyday. We have much
to both give and receive, and to think that's all just left to chance
is a little unnerving.
So,
if our lives are not left to chance, what are they left to? As a
Christian, is life simply about my own choices and decisions, with
God's approval or disapproval and counsel? Or is it His absolute
provision and intervention in everything, inlcuding that perfect
"one"? I personally believe it's a combination of both, and that
arbitrary chance doesn't exist. Why both? Because although we have
been created to make choices freely, we also have the freedom to
experience the concequences of those choices. And God loves us too
passionately to let me walk around on my own in life, and figure
out everthing for myself - He is passionately involved with us without
taking away our freedom.
I
read a book once that described God's will as fences which we freely
move in, such as the fences of The Sermon on the Mount, the 10 Commandements,
the charateristics of wisdom, love, etc., and within those fences
I move and make choices freely. When in the fences, I am safe. That
really made a lot of sense to me.
So
back to the movie (keep in mind I haven't seen it yet). I meet Mr.
Right. He's hitched. Serious drag. I wonder why God is torturing
me (don't get theological on me - I know God doesn't torture anyone.
duh). Now do I marry someone on the rebound?? Not exactly wise.
Talk about jumping the fence. Do I interpret these continual meetings
as God's intervention? Perhaps so...I pray about it and feel out
the situation, and realize that what God was trying to teach me
the whole time was wisdom. This guy doesn't seem to know what he
wants, and I feel even more solid in the kind of guy I'm looking
for. God is awesome, and spared me from making another mistake.
Then, the next week at the grocery store, I meet the man of my dreams,
we date for a year or so, get married, serve God together, have
babies and I never gain a single pound and am never too tired to
write incredibly inspiring books and articles, and we live happily
everafter. Sigh.....
Response:
Yeah, why not? Ahh, but then life would be boring. Life is, indeed,
a mysterious journey that we all love and hate at the same time.
PS I love the way you think. -David
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
