By Jessica Mitchell

License to Wed

“License to Wed” begins with a voiceover of Rev. Frank extolling the virtues of marriage while a clip of a newly-wed couple leaving the church, happy and smiling is shown. Abruptly, the couple disappears and we see Frank’s smugly smiling face, as he drones, “Someone once said ‘Marriage is bliss.’ Whoever said that obviously wasn’t married.” This trite and clich’eacute; sentiment sets the tone for the rest of the film.

“License to Wed” revolves around Ben Murphy, played by John Krasinski of “The Office,” and Sadie Jones, played by Mandy Moore. Ben and Sadie are a recently engaged couple who enroll in a marriage preparation course led by Frank, played by Robin Williams, who says successful marriages are his specialty.

This seems hard to believe once the viewer sees the ridiculous trials the reverend has planned for the couple. From a blindfolded driving test to the introduction of a pair of hideous robotic babies, each new obstacle is obviously engineered by the writers to be zany and wild illustrations of common marriage problems.

However, this device fails miserably, as the few comedic moments in the film result from the performances of some of the actors. Krasinski manages to squeeze a few laughs out of the completely useless writing, mainly because of his look of incredulity in some of the film’s more ridiculous moments. Sadie’s alcoholic sister and Ben’s dimwitted and downtrodden best friend also provide some funny moments, although these are few and far between.

The least funny and most cringe-inducing moments come from Rev. Frank and Sadie. As the reverend, Williams continues to employ his manic and impression-filled delivery, and at some point, it makes the unfunny writing annoying.

Sadie is an insipid, controlling, flat character, and Moore’s limited dramatic and comedic range makes the situation worse.

“License to Wed” is an unfunny and trite film. The director wraps it all up with an overly-sentimental and clich’eacute; ending. The filmmakers should have realized there was a problem when the funniest parts of the film were in the bloopers that rolled with the credits.

A Mighty Heart

In February 2002, an American journalist named Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Karachi, Pakistan. “A Mighty Heart” depicts the political and social connotations of this event, a five-week search for Pearl, who was kidnapped – maybe because he was Jewish, maybe because an enemy told someone he worked for the CIA rather than the New York Post or maybe because he was asking too many questions of important people in the extremist community.

“A Mighty Heart” is based on the memoir by Pearl’s wife, Marianne, and is an almost uncomfortably real account of the events leading up to Daniel’s kidnapping and subsequent murder, as well as the media frenzy surrounding it.

The movie is filmed in a documentary style, with no obviously staged sets and natural lighting. The actors involved are incredibly talented and do not sensationalize or over-dramatize their roles. Included in the cast is Angelina Jolie as Marianne, and her performance is delicate and true to the emotions that Marianne detailed in her memoir. She is the complete picture of a woman trying to remain strong and resilient in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

The film moves at a breakneck pace, and is disturbing to watch, partly because the events depicted are based on real occurrences. It delves deeply into the many people involved, all compliant in an intricate web of anonymous connections, fake addresses and false pretenses.

Part of the movie contains dialogue spoken in Punjabi and Urdu, with no subtitles. This only adds to the sense of confusion and helplessness of the film, although the intentions of the characters are always evident.

The film ends just as the situation ended in reality: with Daniel’s death. While this story received worldwide media attention in 2002, it has since faded in the rise of this increasingly volatile international political era.

However, it is increasingly important in these times because it is a fundamental illustration of the deep and embedded religious and political divides between Americans and the Muslim world. “A Mighty Heart” captures all of this in a realistic way, and is admirable as it raises awareness of Daniel’s story.