Wedding Movie Review #1 - Father of the Bride

Father of the Bride: 1991

Watch Date: Week of 3/26

Wedding Movie List:
1). Father of the Bride
2). My Big Fat Greek Wedding
3). The Wedding Singer
4). Made of Honor
5). The Wedding Crashers
6). Four Weddings and a Funeral
7). 27 Dresses
8). My Best Friend's Wedding
9). Bride Wars
10). The Wedding Planner
11). Bridesmaids
12). Muriel's Wedding
13). Runaway Bride
14). You Again
15). Something Borrowed

(This is my movie list, I will usually put it at the bottom of the post.  I've added some more movies to this list under the recommendation of friends. oh and WARNING: These posts will probably contain movie spoilers.)

So you see that "Father of the Bride" is crossed off... Well that was the obvious the first choice...why obvious? You know, I'm not actually sure... It just was, OK...Do I have to have a reason for everything?

Anyway, you may find it UNUSUAL that I've never seen this movie before. I wasn't really on the pop culture bandwagon in elementary school. I think it's partially because my dad wasn't into stuff like this and my mom had no clue it existed.  And me, like the good little kid that I was, only knew the channel numbers for Disney, Nickelodeon and The Simpsons (where most of the  pop-culture references went right over my head). There is some debate over whose idea this one was (though I assert that it was Math's since I only reluctantly watch '80s-'90s - not my favorite time period in film or fashion...well mostly fashion!).

Father of the Bride is, as the title suggests, a movie about a father (Steve Martin) who is learning to let go of his "baby girl" (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) while planning this ridiculously ostentatious wedding in the process. He has a very hard time accepting the husband-to-be and he keeps thinking of his daughter as the little 6 year old she was.  And while I don't know about how my dad feels on this part, I definitely think he would sympathize with this movie in the monetary sense as they do all kinds of excessive things like hire an expensive and weird-talking wedding planner (Martin Short) and his assistant, inviting 500 guests, moving all the furniture out of their house, planting gardens specifically for the wedding and bringing in swans.  First of all, this is all stuff that is WAY too over the top, that we wouldn't even consider in a million years so in that way I can't really relate. Though the outrageous pricing of stuff does hit home a little bit (though hopefully we will not have it be THAT outrageous!).

"What? I talk weird? It's not like I'm trying to be funny or anything..."

Second of all, it seems that the bride doesn't really do much to be involved. She accompanies her mom (Diane Keaton) and the wedding planner places and reads a wedding magazine. It really irked me when the father and mother were trying to decide the guest list and she just sat there while they argued about which of their friends to invite. BOR-ing. But, I guess I have to give the movie credit, it's not called The Bride, after all.

I could very much tell that this was a movie of the '90s because of the fashion (oh. so. very. bad.) and the humor. If Math had a quarter for every time I said "OMG look at her _____...YUCK!!!!!" he'd, well, have enough to probably buy a soda or a cheap beer. =) I find the humor of these movies too slap-sticky for me. (The whole ripped suit thing). Though some of it is a little quirky and fun in that sense.

 

This is not the best example but...a suit? Girl, you're 22 but you look like you're 40!

Lastly, I think this movie was more sad for Math than inspiring (even ironically) for the two of us. All he could think about was Zoe growing up and him having to give her away.  Which WASN'T THE POINT...MATH! *sigh*. (The point was for us to be jazzed up about our wedding!).

So the verdict for this movie is (Sorry nostalgia-movie fans) 2 1/2 of 5 stars. It was too cheesy to be really heartwarming and too silly to really be funny. I probably won't be watching this again.

Math's verdict is 2 of 5 stars for "movie movies" but for "wedding movies" he says 4 of 5. He says that if he were watching just for fun, he would think that *I* wasted his time, but since we're getting married the movie is cute and endearing and he's glad he watched. Math's way nicer than I am. :o)