Father of the Bride

I re-watched this movie today after seeing it a couple of years ago. I didn't remember half of what happened in the movie, but even the stuff that I remembered amused me again. Steve Martin is his usual self, very funny, great body language...simply great. It's been a while since I've seen such a good, not laugh-out-loud funny, funny comedy. Most of the newer comedies have less realism, less normal subjects and plots, and try too hard to be funny. While this movie definitely has it's share in sentimentality, especially towards the end, pretty much most of the last thirty minutes, but it is still funny, and you don't lose interest in it. A great family comedy, it is pretty much funny for all ages. This is a good movie to sit down with the entire family and watch. Most people will enjoy it, and most people will find at least a few things to laugh at in it, if not Steve Martins nervous father character then maybe Martin Shorts character with the ridiculous accent. There's something for everybody in this one; well, pretty much, anyway. 8/10

The sweetness that "Father of the Bride" exudes does not stem from the fact that it is funny, but rather because it is honest. It's a remake of the 1950s Spencer Tracy classic (which is great in its own right), but has more warmth about it than that film did. It doesn't rely on slapstick as much as it does on the realistic and ironic lead performance by Steve Martin. This is Martin's second favorite film that he has starred in (behind "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and followed by "Little Shop of Horrors"), and I can see why.

Martin stars as George Banks, a wealthy upper-class businessman living in Suburban America with a gentle wife (Diane Keaton) and feisty son (Kieran Culkin). His oldest daughter (Kimberly Williams) has finally grown up and departed the house, and the day she comes home with a fiancée he literally has a panic attack.

She's getting married to possibly the most sensitive man in the world, but George is oblivious to this. All he sees are two big words flashing about the room: LOSING and DAUGHTER. But he is even more upset when he realizes the cost of the wedding: about a couple hundred dollars per head, multiplied by six hundred. You do the math.

Nina (Keaton) and her daughter hire Franck Eggelhoffer to handle the wedding, and Eggelhoffer is one of Martin Short's finest roles. Short, an ex-"SNL" member, and star of "Three Amigos" (which also starred Martin), is simply hilarious as the ecstatic and eccentric Frenchman. Amidst the ceremony's setup procedures, George cannot believe he is the only one who realizes just how crazy the cost of the wedding is.

Let's get this straight: "Father of the Bride" is nothing great. It's been done before, and it will be done again (and it has). Yet because of a likable and warm presence, the movie is more than just the sentimental goo that it nearly becomes at certain points throughout. It's truthful, blunt, and occasionally rather funny, which makes for an entertaining and extremely likable motion picture.

This is not Steve Martin's greatest role. That honor would go to his portrayal of frustrated advertising executive Neal Page in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." But here he provides us with a character almost as realistic, touching and likable. Neal was the character we empathized with in "Planes," and in "Bride" it's essentially the same for Martin. We're seeing the world through his eyes - which explains the reason it is quite often very overwhelming and comical.

The movie indeed benefits from Martin's portrayal of a worried father - not as scared by the fact that his daughter is getting married, as he is by the idea that he will undoubtedly lose her to another man. It's a turning point in both their lives, but it doubles for him. Not only has he essentially lost his daughter, but also he has also just been faced with the reality that he is old enough to nearly be a granddad. This would leave good room for a sequel. Oh, wait...

4/5 stars.

• John Ulmer

Why can't they bring back this genre of movies? Simple, every day life without super drama. Watching a dad have a meltdown over his daughter's wedding is realistic and Steve Martin's character is so relatable. The super market moment with the hot dog buns is hilarious and so dead on. Nowadays it feels like writers/producers have no idea what is happening in the real world. I have watched countless movies where the characters drive new cars and $500k+ houses and are portrayed as the struggling, all-American family lol even though this family has a stunning house, they still come across grounded and humble.

OK, OK, the characters are a little bit "Brady Bunch" - sweet little Annie, the perfect daughter, George, the doting and totally befuddled father, and Nina, the soothing, calming, hold-it-all-together wife and mother. They're a little bit larger than life in this classic comic, but who cares! For any father who loves his daughter, this movie simply can't be watched without feeling a tearing at the heart and a lump in the throat. Father of The Bride can be viewed purely as a bit of light-hearted comedy that mocks the way Dads can sometimes be, but by looking just a little deeper, it contains valuable information that could help many a daughter understand her Dad, and offers many a Dad some consolation that he is not alone, and that someone out there understands the separation pains he is going through as his most precious treasure begins to spread her wings and look elsewhere than the first man she ever loved. This is a tough time for many fathers, and mothers and daughters very often don't understand their erratic, paranoid and irrational behaviour. Father of The Bride explores this phenomenon with what was for me an amazingly accurate depiction of the emotional turmoil that goes on in the head of a man who cherishes his daughter's love and feels threatened and reduntant when another man enters the picture. Goodrich and Hackett have constructed it brilliantly, and Steve Martin expresses it perfectly in this most elegant of love stories. The movie takes some shortcuts - for most of us, the separation pains don't do us the courtesy of waiting till the engagement - they come much earlier than that, when out of the blue some stranger comes into our daughter's life. Martin demonstrates the pain and fear and anxiety that every daughter's Dad feels as some blow-in comes and lays a claim on his beloved child. A must for every Dad with a teen princess, and for the Mums and Daughters I strongly recommend that instead of just laughing and saying "hahahah - that's Dad all over", read between the lines to see just why Dad is the way he is. Loved it every time I've seen it (3 or 4 times now).

While not Steve Martin's best film or role, he shines in a very likable and watchable comedy film. His Tom Jones impersonation especially is absolutely brilliant. Diane Keaton sparkles as his uncomplaining wife, and Kimberly Williams is sweet and alluring as his daughter Annie(she looked stunning in the wedding dress), while Martin Short gives a wonderfully fluffy turn as the camp wedding organiser. Onto the other elements of the film, while sentimental in places and perhaps a little unoriginal, what lifts it aside from the excellent performances is the beautiful scenery and cinematography, a nice script, assured direction and a pleasant soundtrack. Plus there were enough laughs to satisfy me, going for subtlety rather than wackiness, making it even more pleasant to watch. Overall, engaging and definitely worth watching. 8/10 Bethany Cox