A 2001 movie directed by newcomer Adam Shankman that is a romantic comedy and has no pretensions to be anything else. This is a genre that can be innocuous light entertainment at best, cloyingly annoying in the mid-range, and putridly horrific at worst; I'm happy to report that this offering weighs in at the fluffy but fun end of the spectrum.
Mary Fiore (Jennifer Lopez) is the most successful wedding planner in San Francisco, organized, ambitious, and in control at all times. When she sets her sights on scoring the most prestigious wedding event of the season, you know she's going to get it. After securing a promise from her boss that she will be made partner if she pulls the gig off, she works her magic on the bride-to-be and receives the commission. But on her way back to the office she catches the heel of her new Gucci shoe in a manhole cover, just at the moment that a taxi driver, having dropped his ice cream, swerves into a dumpster which careens down the hill towards Mary, who is reluctant to surrender her expensive new footwear. Steve Edison (Matthew McConaughey) is the handsome doctor who pulls her out of the way at the last possible moment, saving her life and her shoe. Before you can say Hollywood fiction, it's love at first sight.
You can imagine how this story is going to go: there'll be shock when they discover that he's the intended groom, she their wedding planner. There'll be a dead mother and an aging immigrant father who wants so much to see his daughter marry that he'll push matrimony with a friend from the old country. There'll be a dance class and a horse ride and a birthday party. Once upon a time there would have been two bitches scratching each other's eyes out to keep the man, but thank heaven that cliche is avoided here, else I couldn't recommend this movie at all.
It's all very predictable, and would be totally lame if the lead actors weren't quite so good in these roles. In spite of all her come-hither ads and concerts, Lopez does a credible impersonation of an ordinary gal who got burned and, because she can't seem to marry, plans. McConaughey, for his part, carries off his role as a somewhat passive, kind of confused, slightly icky fellow with a heart of gold, and the two have enough chemistry to convince. There's nothing of substance here, but it's a fun flick to watch when you just want entertainment with no brain cramps.