This is the third Hollywood production of Father of the Bride, and it is by far, the worst of them. Not because it isn't about a white family. Andy Garcia is an amazing actor, and his gravely voice is perfect for narration. But like everything else in this movie, he is wasted. Let's start with the story. I loved the idea of having Andy and his wife trying to hide the fact they are getting divorced a secret. Secrets are key to comedy. However, this gets so much screen time that the entire relationship between Father and Daughter does not get enough time to properly develop. We see glimpses of what could have been. The dominoes scene for example. But the special moment where the band plays the special song for the father-daughter dance means nothing to the viewer because we did not hear this song earlier in the movie. None of the moments were earned because there was no setup for the payoff. The only callback that worked was when Andy and Gloria are dancing and he references the "ground rules" they set earlier. Andy is said to be busy with work, and neglecting Gloria, yet we only see him working once during the movie, and all he is doin is an interview for a magazine. He should have been AWOL during a lot of the wedding plans so we could see he puts work before his family. The green screens were terribly done and obviously fake. The cinematography was way too bright with zero shadows which made the whole thing look cheap and uninteresting. While the Steve Martin version has a killer soundtrack, this seemed to be scored with royalty free jazz instrumental and nothing more. Gloria should have sung at the wedding, preferably in a tender moment toward Andy, but once again the moment was wasted. While it is easy to just dismiss the underdeveloped plots and say they did not have time, the slow pace of the edit suggests otherwise. And the attempt at the long oner shot where they get ready for the wedding is a clue to the vibrant energy this film could have brought. The film leaned too heavily into the agenda that the "older generation must step aside and get with the times" near the end. This was very disappointing since one of the characters literally asks "if they won't keep our traditions, who will?" I think there was a good movie in there, somewhere. The trailer was good enough to suggest that it had potential. But throw in an unnecessary lesbian subplot that was poorly executed, and you have neither side happy. At the end of the day, there is a reason it was a streaming original. It feels cheap, looks cheap, and the finished product is mediocre.
Review of Father of the Bride
