8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 2, 2001
ARTS
Oscar bells not in
.Lo's future for
'Wedding Planner'
Hill to host Sinopoli
brilliant Dresden
By Leslie Boxer
Daily Arts Writer
"The Wedding Planner," which is
most certainly slated as a date movie,
has belittled itself to less than a chick
flick. Even I, a huge fan of romantic
The Wedding
Planner
Grade: C-.
At Showcase
and Quality 16
comedies, must
admit that this
film was far
from enchanting.
The premise is
simple: Boy
meets girl, boy
falls in love with
girl, girl falls, in
love with boy,
girl plans boy's
wedding. Unfor-
tunately, the film
is never more
than a cookie-
cutter version of
Mary may be a hopeless romantic when
it comes to planning weddings, but
whose idea of an after-work date
includes a spruced-up TV dinner and
vacuuming the baseboards of her apart-
ment. As she explains, "those who can't
do, teach - those who can't wed,
plan." Yet, it seems that there is hope on
the horizon. Mary, late for a meeting
with clients, gets her shoe caught and is
nearly killed by a runaway dumpster.
Our fair hero, Dr. Steve Edison
(Matthew McConaughey), saves not
only Mary's life but her new Gucci
shoes as well.
There is some attempt at humor with
a bed ridden Mary and jokes about her
big neck (I can only assume it is a refer-
ence to Lopez's famously large behind).
However, these are put aside quickly for
the inevitable love-at-first-sighting
between Mary and Steve. The duo goes
on a date and further falls in love.
What makes the rest of the film so
hard to stomach, beside the dialogue
and hackneyed plot, is that there is no
convincing chemistry between Lopez
and McConaughey. Lopez does her best
to look longingly at Steve, and in all
fairness to her, I believe the fault lies
with McConaughey. His almost kiss
that is supposed to represent the culmi-
nation to the best night of his life looks
more like indigestion from M&Ms.
Needless to say this would not be the
movies if they did not include inconve-
niences to the love affair. As it turns
out, Dr. Steve Edison is the groom-to-
Staatskap
By Shannon O'Sullivan
Daily Arts Writer
Four and a half centuries later and
still producing music that can be
called a "virtuoso of refinement,"
the Dresden Staatskapelle returns to
the Hill Auditorium this Friday
night.
Founded in 1548, the Dresden
Dresden
Staatskapelle
Staatskapelle
originally
charmed listen-
ers at weddings,
church services,
banquets, and
court festivals.
Beethoven was
lle
Although he graduated from tfied .
ical school with a degree in Frfedi
an psychoanalysis, Sinopoli lacks nd
talent in the area of music, as h
was the first music director in four
decades to be democratically elect
ed by the orchestra's musicians. *
Sinopoli seems to focus on b
era 1842 to 1942, with hopes -of
"just trying to come back to the ld;
sound, what we know threLtgh
records and through descriptio*
Not the aggressive sound typicalo
modern orchestras, never forcing.'.
He strives for "a very elegant homo
geneity, we work very strong in this'
direction."
With the orchestra's intinate
association with Strauss, SinopOl;
stresses his view on such music a
"very transparent and very fine. Not
spectacular. Not heavy," as opp
to typical conductors' interpreir
tions of Strauss as very ponderous,
dramatic, loud sounds.
In praise of Sinopoli's nurturaof
this elite orchestra, he was awarded
Italy's highest award, the "Gran
Coce as Merito," for his contribu-
tion to the arts and music.
Whether they are playing their
hearts out to
Courtesy o ColumliaP ictures
"Are you sure Puffy won't find out?" Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Lopez
star in "The Wedding Planner." You better watch your back, Matt.
the classic story of romance with terri-
ble timing.
We are introduced to Mary Fiore
(Jennifer Lopez), a control freak wed-
ding planner, who is putting the finish-
ing touches on one of her weddings.
She wears a wireless headset, carries all
kinds of emergency gear under her suit,
and can fix the dress of a bridesmaid.
'Mary looks like she could be backstage
-pampering to the many desires of J.Lo.
Yet, the scene works as a mockery of
what has become a major industry inl
America -planning parties.
What the audience finds out is that
be in the wedding that Mary's career is
hinged on.
Steve is engaged to marry Fran Don-
nelley (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras),
daughter of the nouveau riche and the
most sought after client in the Bay area.
Mary stays with the wedding even after
finding out Steve's secret because she
prides herself on being a professional
who can manage the challenge. The
film writes off Steve's indiscretion of
going to a movie and dancing with
Mary as cold feet - even though we all
know it is true love.
Meanwhile as a miserable side story
we have Mary's father (Alex Rocco),
who sounds like he is deaf even though
it is supposed to be an Italian accent,
trying to set Mary up with her long-
lost Italian childhood playmate. This
part of the story is unnecessary and
just plain stupid.
"The Wedding Planner" is not a
great love story and is even harder
to stomach than the usual romantic
comedy. But in its defense, the two
stars do their best to. make up for
the cliche-ridden story line.
H111 /ucuIIUIm on target when
Tonight at 8 p.m. he noted, "It is
generally said
that the orches-
tra in Dresden
is the best in
Europe." Since
then the orches-
tra has grown to hold the reputation
of being one of the world's finest.
The Dresden Staatskapelle is not
only renowned for its interpreta-
tions and variations of standard and
contemporary
repertoire,
but also the
orchestra's
k
i
4
Michigan Opera WwVv ks
presents
MOZART Le Nozze Di F
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
CONDUCTED BY TIMOTHY SEMANIK
Tickets ir advance at MUT) (734) 763-8587
S6 Students S14 Adult
Tickets at Door
58 Students 16 Adult
Fri. 2/2 8 p.m. Sun 2/4 3 p.m.
Wed. 2/7 8 p.m. Sat. 2/10 8 p.m.
University of Michigan
East Quad Residential (ollee<
1 01 East Universirty, I3 Tyler (between Willardand IHill Sret)
tWao
close connec-
tion with
Richard
Strauss has
established
its title as a
"Strauss"
orchestra.
With world
premiere per-
formances of
outstanding
operas by
Richard Wag-
ner and
Richard
Strauss, the
r 0 mL a nutv
"Don Ju
"Death ,an4
Transfigura-
tion," "Et
Heldenleben'
or militant
heavy-breath(
ing develop"
ment -of
Tchaikovsky
the Dresd$
Staatskapelle:
is a welcomni
tonic to khig
homogenized
age of orches
Courtesy of UMS tras. Conduct-
inopoli conducts the ing this full
tonight at the Hill." orchestra oi
100 musi-
cians, and driving them to plA
their hearts out, Sinopoli builds t.e
suspense of the DresW
Staatskapelle to an ultimate bar-
monic climax.
The intense Giuseppe S
or c h e st r a's Dresden Staatskapell
development
has mainly come from its accom-
plished conductors.
Presently, the orchestra is under
the direction of Venetian-born con-
ductor-composer Giuseppe Sinopoli.
Ile,
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