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Written by Mike Duffy, MCT
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Tuesday, 06 March 2007 |
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Going to the chapel of romantic comedy love, Fox invites you to the premiere of "The Wedding Bells" at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Just remember, this is the Planet Holy Moly Matrimony, where things can be excessively loopy and aggressively lighthearted.
And "The Wedding Bells" — which moves into its regular weekly home at 9 p.m. Friday with an encore of Wednesday's post-"American Idol" premiere — is anything but understated with silliness when we meet the three very pretty Bell sisters, who have a business as upscale wedding planners.
The Bell sisters — sane, sensible Jane (Teri Polo, "Meet the Fockers"); divorced, down -to-earth Annie (KaDee Strickland), and single, hot-to-trot Sammy (Sarah Jones) — have hopped out of the babelicious end of the gene pool.
The siblings inherited the family firm, a swanky matrimonial mansion called the Wedding Palace, when their parents divorced. Now it's up to them to build the business, with savvy marketing assistance from Russell Hawkins (Benjamin King), Jane's bean-counter husband.
Other players in the operation include ace photographer David Conlon (Michael Landes), ambivalence-bruised wedding singer Ralph Snow (Chris Williams) and Chef Ernesto (Costas Mandylor), who constantly flirts with unreceptive Jane.
On the slick, hit-and-sometimes-miss premiere, the main matrimonial odyssey involves high maintenance Amanda Pontell (Missi Pyle), a snooty rich girl raging at every perceived imperfection in the Bells' sophisticated plan for her big-budget blowout.
And naturally, Bridezilla has a pompous, demanding mother, with Delta Burke disturbingly well cast as the Botox-altered matriarch: "Stella Pontell, mother of the bride. I'm an acquired taste."
Behind the scenes, impertinent Sammy has impulsively and unwisely hooked up with one of the hunky groomsmen, which allows Jane to huffily utter the immortal line, "Sammy, you have sex hair!"
Ah well, life is like that on "The Wedding Bells," the latest concoction from David E. Kelley. As one of TV's most prolific producers over the past two decades, Kelley has connected on such hit shows as "Picket Fences," "Ally McBeal," "The Practice" and "Boston Legal."
But even though he's won 10 Emmys Awards, Kelley often displays a tendency to go around the bend into cloying caricature and overwrought storytelling. This usually happens by the second or third season of his signature hits.
Over the last year or so, "Boston Legal" (the comical spin-off of "The Practice") has at times become borderline unwatchable due to its surreal foolishness. And that's despite a top-notch cast that includes James Spader, William Shatner and Candice Bergen.
It's too soon too tell whether "The Wedding Bells" — with a less impressive cast — can ring the prime time chimes with consistent charm.
There are moments of dizzy, semi sweet fun to be had on the premiere. But the honeymoon could be short.
___
Mike Duffy:
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