As I’ve said in my title, I’m no panner of THE WEDDING PLANNER--but you probably wouldn’t expect me to be, seeing as how the cool guy who played Massimo is my second cousin’s son, Justin Chambers.
Of course, I’m really excited about having someone I’m related to or otherwise know to experience shining moments while doing what he/she wants to be doing--and it doesn’t have to be something as public as acting, either, even though it takes on an extra air of excitement, because being on the large screen isn’t something that everybody gets a big break in while pursuing.
However, if I didn’t care for the movie, I would either simply be nice and not say anything at all or else tell you why I didn’t like it, cousin or no cousin. Like I told a writer friend who’s also a member of the school board whom I don’t always agree with the views of, let’s agree to disagree and still be friends.
But I wasn’t put in that awkward situation, because I LOVED the movie!!!
One of the complaints lodged against the movie, even by those who enjoyed it, is that things like this don’t really happen!
But I’m here to tell you that they do!!!
Unlike Mary (the leading lady), I’ve never gotten a designer shoe stuck in a sewer lid before and ended up being rescued by a cute doctor before a garbage truck hit me.
But I have met some guys in very unusual ways. The following guys didn’t turn out to be boyfriends, but we became friends and enjoyed hanging out with each other.
One guy I met from getting him as a wrong number on the phone. We ended up having a lot of long conversations and going out to eat. He also turned out to live in the same neighborhood as a couple where the wife had been friends with me since high school and ended up hiring the husband to do some lawn work for him.
Another guy I met when I went into this donut place to see if an opening for a graveyard shift waitress had come up. There was a guy sitting there reading the Bible, and he looked a little like my cousin’s fifth-grade teacher who had recently started a church in his home. I hadn’t seen Tom in a couple of years but had been in touch with him on the phone. So I asked this guy if he happened to be Tom. He told me that his name was Dave and that he pitied this Tom if he looked like him.
The owner of the donut shop introduced us, telling me that Dave was a photographer and telling Dave that I was a writer--so we would have a lot to talk about. I think the guy had matchmaking on his mind, to tell the truth!
He asked me what I wrote, and I asked him what kinds of pictures he took. He had his portfolio with him and showed me his pictures--including some picture postcards!
’’Did you really make these postcards!?!’’ I asked him!
He didn’t seem to think that it was a big deal, but he told me he did--to which I told him that I’d been buying and sending his postcards to friends, especially the one of the rose on the dark background that had a ’’Have A Nice Day!’’ caption on it.
Dave and I have remained friends for almost 25 years! In fact, I was just hanging out with him yesterday!
And I could go on and give you several more encounters like this--but I won’t right now, because there’s a character limit on writings here, and, also, I’m getting ready to take off on a road-trip of at least two weeks, so I don’t have time.
Even the way I came to see THE WEDDING PLANNER at this particular time--through a bunch of twists and turns--shows that such serendipity is very realistic.
I’ve written about this in detail over at this other site I write for that begins with the letter E when I reviewed THE WEDDING PLANNER there. The title I gave my review was I MAY BE RELATED TO ’’MASSIMO, ’’ BUT I TRULY AM BEING AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE!
After reading what I wrote, you surely could believe that a couple could meet while egged on by a stuck shoe and an out-of-control garbage truck!
And would an intelligent guy like Steve really pick through his M&Ms, rejecting all but the brown ones?
Well, I have an intelligent friend named Marshall, and you should see how he’s been known to divide his food into edible and inedible stacks. I have a photo I took of him separating the sheep and goat veggies in a tossed salad one time--right in a restaurant!!! He had this Mikey-who-hates-everything expression on his face.
Anyway, I rest my case on whether or not strange things like that can happen--because I’ve known even stranger things to happen than that!
Another gripe against the movie was that the plot wasn’t original. Say WHAT!?!
Sure! It’s another boy-meets-girl story where they have some sort of conflict standing between them and true happiness, but I found it to be told in a new and different way--and one I could identify with! Mary is a wedding planner whose never had her own wedding, just like I’ve been a bridesmaid several times but never a bride--unless you count my dressing as one for Halloween when I was almost nine years old.
And I’d rather be watching the same old boy-meets-girl movie than the same old slasher movie, explosion movie, nearly-pornographic movie, etc.
I’m excited to say that this movie is coming out on video this month, so why not rent it and give it a chance!?! If you love a sweet love story that has a lot of other life lessons to teach as well, while being great for lots of laughs, you’ll love THE WEDDING PLANNER!
One more thing. I read one review where the reviewer said that the only thing he liked about the movie was JUSTIN CHAMBERS! While I don’t agree with him about his being the only good part of the movie, I must say that, considering that the guy found only one good thing about the movie, I’m glad he decided that it was my cousin!