I've enjoyed Steve Martin’s movies for many years, including some that aren't as well liked. Father of the Bride is one of my favorite Steve Martin movies. I've watched it several times and still enjoy it.

George and Nina Banks were looking forward to their daughter Annie returning home after spending some time in Italy. Nina was surprised by happy when Annie announced her engagement. George was stunned and convinced she was too young to get married. He was determined to dislike Bryan, the man she was engaged to. George struggled to accept the engagement while Annie and Nina jumped into planning the wedding with the help of Frank, a wedding planner.

Father of the Bride was a remake of a movie that starred Elizabeth Taylor and Spencer Tracey. I’ve never seen the original so I don’t know how close the new version stayed to the original. I thought that the movie was very entertaining and I haven’t heard it compared badly to the original. This was a good family friendly movie that was worth watching. There wasn’t anything offensive in the movie or anything that parents need to be concerned about.

There were several funny moments throughout Father of the Bride. The movie made me laugh a lot without resorting to anything too silly or stupid like some movies have done. A few things that happened were slightly silly, but they weren’t like what has been done in some other movies. Frank had a very unique accent that made it difficult to understand him at times. I did think his accent was funny. The way that George reacted to all the wedding things was what made me laugh the most. He did sort of flip out a few times while trying to deal with everything. The plot wasn’t sacrificed for the sake of the humor. There really wasn’t any of the physical comedy that Steve Martin has done in many of his other movies.

Annie announced her engagement very early in the movie. That allowed for most of the planning of the wedding to be shared. Those things were included in ways that kept them from making the movie boring. There was more going on than just Annie and Nina sitting around picking out flowers and the cake. George was concerned with the rising cost of the wedding, which I thought was understandable. Annie didn’t seem to care at all about that and even got mad when George wanted to make the guest list smaller to keep the cost down some. I did enjoy the parts of the movie that dealt with the wedding plans. I really enjoyed seeing how George reacted to and dealt with everything.

George and Nina had been happily married for several years. George was content with his life and not ready for any changes. He loved his daughter and wanted her to be happy. He just still saw her as his little girl and he wasn’t ready to let her go. That made George do a few somewhat extreme things. There were voice overs from George at different times throughout the movie. He used them to talk about how he was feeling or dealing with certain things. I really liked Steve Martin in the part. Nina was more accepting of Annie getting married and even a bit excited about planning the wedding. Nina was the calm one who kept George from completely flipping out. Diane Keaton was very good in the part. Kieran Culkin played Matty, George and Nina’s younger son.

Annie was very excited about her engagement. She hadn’t really thought about how her dad would react to the news with her just springing it on him the first night she was home. She hadn’t even mentioned Bryan to her parents before that. Annie didn’t seem to care about the things related to the wedding that were concerning her dad, especially the price. This was Kimberly Williams’s first movie and she did well with the part. Bryan wasn’t in as much of the movie so he wasn’t developed that much. His parents were around in a few short scenes and were rather flat characters since they were barely in the movie.

Frank was the wedding planner that Nina and Annie hired to help them plan the wedding. He was flamboyant and had big, expensive ideas for the wedding. He had a strong accent that made it hard for some people to understand him. Martin Short was good in the part. He could have easily gone overboard with the performance with the way the character was. Howard was Frank’s assistant. Howard was almost as flamboyant as Frank.

Main Cast

Kieran Culkin - Matty Banks
Peter Michael Goetz - John MacKenzie
Diane Keaton - Nina Banks
Steve Martin - George Banks
George Newbern - Bryan Mackenzie
Martin Short - Frank
Kate McGregor-Stewart - Joanna MacKenzie
Kimberly Williams - Annie Banks
B.D. Wong - Howard

Charles Shyer - Director

Father of the Bride was a very entertaining movie that is definitely worth watching. Fans of Steve Martin should enjoy it. I have the movie on VHS and will pick up the DVD at some point.

Steve Martin Movie Reviews
All of Me ~ Bringing Down the House ~ Bowfinger ~ Cheaper by the Dozen ~ Cheaper by the Dozen 2 ~ Housesitter ~ Looney Tunes: Back in Action ~ The Muppet Movie ~ Novocaine ~ The Pink Panther ~

Recommended: Yes