Bland and boring 'License to Wed' needs to be revoked

Early in the "marriage preparation course" conducted by the smarty-pants Reverend Frank (Robin Williams, barely tamping down his wacky persona under a clerical collar), as groom-to-be Ben (John Krasinski from TV's "The Office") is tossed into a game of word association with the bride's family, his future mother-in-law describes him as "vanilla."

Right on the nose, mom. You've pegged both the blandly affable Ben and the whole meek marriage comedy around him.

Mandy Moore is Sadie, the perky bride-to-be who enlists Ben in the pastor's course, a prerequisite to having her wedding in the family church. It's essentially a marriage boot camp for idealistic young couples with Reverend Frank (the kind of minister who laces stand-up in his sermons) as the drill sergeant, slipping comic asides between stress-test shenanigans apparently concocted out of reality TV pitches.

Williams provides the patter as the dewy lovebirds get on each other's nerves in snarky role-reversal exercises and parenting rehearsals with freaky little robot babies that squirm and bawl and spew bodily fluids from multiple mechanical orifices.

Moore is appropriately spunky as the eager fiancé with control issues, but Krasinski offers amiable passivity in a role that demands a slow simmer as Reverend Frank cranks up the heat in the social pressure cooker until it boils over.

If you can't predict how it all turns out, you've never seen a family sitcom. You know, the kind in which the moral is spelled out at the end of every episode for everyone. This film merely stretches out the gags to 90 minutes before hugging out the painlessly learned life lessons.

For a film with a frank recognition of sex and the modern unmarried couple, this film keeps to awfully safe comic territory. This colorless couple needs a lot more creative commitment to save their marriage comedy of convenience.