Ms. Matched (2016)
This was one of those times I decided to review a movie for the heck of it. It was there in my Amazon recs. It looked like fun.
But we’ll get to that.
Ms. Matched seems like an obvious ripoff of The Wedding Planner, and in some ways it is, only there are no unfortunate jokes about well-endowed statues. It even starts out the same way, with wedding planner Libby (Alexa PenaVega) talking down a nervous bride. It’s her wedding day. It’s her dream come true. It’s going to be perfect.
Unlike Mary Fiore’s more opulent existence, though, Libby’s wedding planning business is losing capital and they need to drum up more clients, so it’s heigh ho for the yearly Bridal Expo, where happy couples come to plan their Big Day. Libby and her assistant, Michelle (Leah Gibson) are confident that they can get their finances back on track. They know everyone, they know how to make a sale, and they’re all about making dreams come true. Money is merely a footnote.
Not so fast, ladies. Also in attendance at the Expo is Ben Reynolds (Shawn Roberts), who’s written a book called Wedding Day Do’s and Don’ts. He and Libby have several cute banter sessions and seem to like each other until Ben gets up and tells the Expo crowd that the Big Day is not what counts so it doesn’t do to blow giant wads of cash. It’s about the marriage, not the wedding.
Libby and her fellow wedding vendors are aghast because if Ben’s ideas catch on they’ll be out of business. Much to her horror, Libby sees her clients and potential clients haunting Ben’s booth, and he gets so much traffic he puts up a giant sign reading, “Consultant.”
After that it’s war. In a bright, non-threatening Hallmark kind of way, of course, because it is a Hallmark movie.
I really try not to be a snob about Hallmark Channel films. Sure, they’re predictable and cheap to produce, but they can also be fun to watch with some chocolate and a bowl of popcorn. I just miss those Hallmark Hall of Fame movies that used to be on network TV back in the eighties and nineties because they had a bit more meat to them. Harvest of Fire is my favorite.
That said, Ms. Matched is a pretty terrible movie. It’s the furthest thing from realistic, not that it has to be true to life in every detail, but it tries way, way, way too hard to create conflict. Ben’s speech at the beginning of the movie is entirely reasonable and thoughtful, but he’s the jerk? Um, no. Sure, he could have read the room better, but he was not wrong.
What we see in the movie is not how wedding planners do business. When I got married in 2003, wedding planners were trendy, but literally every wedding magazine and site I read, like TheKnot.com, for instance, emphasized not breaking the bank. Also, it’s on the couple, not the wedding planner, to pay vendors, so it’s no wonder Libby had no capital. Depending on what kind of planner she was, her clients should have been paying her.
Logistics aren’t the movie’s only flaw. The writing and acting are stilted, the actors have no chemistry, and everything about the movie is bland and generic. Like at the expo. Every vendor is “Something By Someone.” Weddings By Libby. Body By Bobby. Dresses By Meredith. The only one who’s at all original is the Cake King, but he only gets a partial pass because his slogan is supremely awkward: “The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is in the cake.”
Groan.
I wanted to like Ms. Matched, but it wouldn’t let me. Oh well.
Ms. Matched is free to stream for Amazon Prime customers. Rated TV-G.
My grade: C-
Principal Cast: Alexa PenaVega, Shawn Roberts, Leah Gibson, Elise Gatien, Andrew Francis, Laura Soltis, Chris Shields, Michael P. Northey
Directed by Mark Jean
Teleplay written by Monica Parker, Jennifer Barrow, and Rich Tabach