January 31, 2001 -- "The Wedding Planner" is a very light little romantic comedy, featuring appealing characters who are saddled with fantastic plot contortions. The screenplay writes itself into corners, requiring magic incantations to escape.

The stars, Jennifer Lopez of "The Cell" and Matthew McConaughey of "U571" make a wonderful screen couple. It is too bad they are saddled with such a clunky story, written by Pamela Falk and Michael Ellis ("Little Voice"). Lopez plays Mary (clever, huh?) Fiore, the wedding planner. Due to a freak accident, her life is saved by Dr. Steve Edison (McConaughey) and the two share a romantic evening before she finds out she is the wedding planner for the wedding of here new heartthrob, Steve, to Fran Donolly (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras), an Internet tycoon.

Naturally, the audience wants Mary and Steve to get together, so the story demands that circumstances keep them apart for as long as possible until love triumphs. That's the basic plot of most romantic comedies, including this one. Unfortunately, the plot devices used to keep Steve and Mary apart are clumsy, to say the least. We have arranged weddings, we have red herring romances. There are a lot of second thoughts and cold feet. It gets pretty ugly before sanity prevails. One instance of a person saving a person's life could be explained away, but twice in the space of a couple of weeks? That's an overused plot device. O.K., how many times have you saved your girlfriend, or boyfriend's life in the last couple of weeks?

The so-called romance between Mary and Massimo Lanzetta (Justin Chambers) doesn't really work as a distraction and what happens when he asks her to marry him is totally unbelievable. Steve's side of the story is a little more believable since a large wedding has a momentum of its own. It might have been more effective, however, if we had gotten to know Fran a lot better. What does he see in her and she in him? Why do they want to get married and what are some of the reasons they should not get married? As it is, the only person in the film whose character is really developed is that of Mary. She comes across as smart, ambitious and tough, but confused when it comes to matters of the heart.

Lopez and McConaughey are great. They make a great screen couple, a natural romantic pairing. McConaughey ("Contact") may be the best romantic leading man in the movies today, while Lopez is one of the best leading ladies (see "Out of Sight"). McConaughey, like Cary Grant before him, has a twinkle in his eye and a hint of a smile, as if he's keeping a joke to himself. He's always holding something back, just a little in reserve, and he seems to be in charge of every situation. Lopez exudes intelligence and confidence, coupled with a quiet vulnerability. I'd like to see them together again in something better written. This film rates a C.

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