Delayed Reaction: Father of the Bride (2022)

Premise: A father is resistant to his daughter getting married.

 

There are some premises that should be left alone. There’s no remaking Casablanca. The Graduate was too specific to its era. There are others that could be remade every year and it would never feel too soon. Father of the Bride is one of these. So far, there have only been three version of this (and one sequel) and that feels like restraint. As long as enough has changed in the formula, I’m fine with making so many more of them.

 

So, while I love the Steve Martin version from – hold on, is that right? – 30 years ago, I fully embraced this version with a Latin American spin. Frankly, I appreciated nearly every tweak to the formula. Andy Garcia isn’t an obvious choice for the titular father. While he’s been in comedies before, I don’t recall him ever leading one. He works though, because the role is more about being able to take punches and still look good than being able to deliver a joke. And he definitely has “middle-aged man I still want to root for” energy. I love that in addition to the wealthy meets super wealthy conflict between the two families coming together, there’s also Cuba vs. Mexico. I’ve certainly lazily rolled the entire Latin American community into a single identity before, so it was nice to see something that examines the similarities and differences. That alone is enough reason to remake this movie. The film also has to change the premise with the times. A father’s role in a wedding has diminished over the years, and this version recognizes that. A lot of Garcia’s conflict in the movie is with realizing that he has little power in it. And he manages to come away from it not looking like an asshole, which is tougher than it sounds.

 

I also appreciated some of the fringe changes. Chloe Fineman is a worthy successor to Martin Short’s wedding planner in the 1991 movie. That role really should feel like an SNL character released into the real world, and that’s how Fineman treats it. Isabela Merced gets more to do as the child not getting married. I’m in favor of this because Isabela Merced is usually pretty great*.

 

*Since age is apparently a thing I get hung up on in movies, I’ll note that I was surprised by Merced’s role. She was only 19-20 while shooting this film. She’s struck me as the kind of actress who would end up with high school roles for a while. It’s interesting that this movie actually lets her play her actual age if not someone who reads as slightly older.

 

This is a very traditional RomCom with a familiar story and jokes that make me chuckle more than laugh. And that’s something I enjoy watching a lot. The film with well-made. Miami didn’t look too much like Atlanta (to me, at least). Almost all the changes were for the better to make the movie work in 2022. It’s not going to be my favorite movie of the year. In fact, I’ll forget about most of it in a couple months, but I really enjoyed it for what it is.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend