by Samuel Nichols, Contributing Writer
When I saw Father of the Bride was being released, I thought that it could only go poorly. First of all, any time a movie goes straight to a streaming service without much fanfare or advertisement, it can imply low quality. Studios do not want to take a risk of spending their capital — of good will or money — to get a movie they do not trust into a theater. So they send it to their in-house streaming service and it gets a few eyeballs on their app or website on a Friday night. Secondly, going back and mining a classic movie for a remake smells of creative bankruptcy. Of course there are good remakes or reboots, but it is always a risky decision. The same kind of story may not fly in 2022 like it did in 1990. So when I sat down with my wife and turned on 2022’s Father of the Bride, I expected little, but as the story unfolded I was pleasantly surprised.
Our story follows Billy Herrera (Andy Garcia), a successful architect who immigrated to Miami, Florida from Cuba when he was young. Over the course of one day, two crazy life changes befall him: his wife Ingrid (Gloria Estefan) tells him she wants a divorce, and his oldest daughter Sofia (Adria Arjona) announces her engagement. On top of both these two huge life events, Billy’s youngest daughter Cora (Isabela Merced) remains the black sheep of the family as she pursues her dreams of being a designer and not going to college. There is a lot on the family’s plate to contend with. To keep up appearances, Billy and Ingrid agree to keep their separation plans quiet for now. However, things get harder to control as wedding planning happens, and Billy is forced to confront his old ways and how they do not mesh with the world he finds himself in now. On top of this, he has to accept mistakes he may have made as a father and a husband that have put him in this situation.
As far as comedy goes, this movie does not often stick its jokes. Now I know I just said that I liked this movie a paragraph ago, but when you talk about a comedy, the actual comedy has to be addressed first. A lot of the humor feels tacked on, as if it was written by a robot that watched the last 10 years of studio comedies, Marvel movies, and SNL skits, and mixed those with some traditional “the old versus the new” drama. In fact, SNL cast member Chloe Fineman is here and feels like she just got pulled out of the studios on 30 Rock. The over-the-top nature of her humor does not mesh with the more subtle stuff trying to happen between the Herrera family. I want to like what they’re giving me, but it all feels forced and inauthentic. Plus it does not help that the actual plot of the story about Billy coming to accept his daughters’ individual life decisions and paths is telegraphed from minute one. We know he’ll have to come around and somehow still get his way at the same time. There is no tension there whatsoever.
But as I have been thinking about this movie, I realized that it works very well as a lighthearted family drama. You have all these major family events happening with Sofia’s wedding, Billy and Ingrid’s divorce, and Cora’s push for independence. How the characters juggle each of these events feels true to how a family would act. Garcia and Estefan do excellently as this couple that is holding on by a thread, but cannot let go of each other quite yet. When Arjona gets an opportunity to demonstrate Sofia’s desire for something new, she is a model example of how a Type A child and sibling would act. Finally, Merced does well as the odd one out, proving herself in her own way. It feels like a real family to me.
Setting-wise, the city of Miami looks lovely in this movie. It does not quite get to the levels of New York City in Spider-Man or Philadelphia in Rocky, but the feel of this setting adds to the tone. Also, everyone is absolutely dressed to the nines here. I know the temptation for modern-based movies is to kind of let everyone wear something as if they were pulled off the street. But that is not the case here. This is clearly a well-off family that knows how to dress. Outfits are stylish and unique to each character. Everyone looks good here. A+ to the costuming department.
Going back to what I said before, I have to admit I was impressed by this outing from HBO Max. I think my expectations for streaming original movies stem from the number of original Netflix and Hulu movies I watch. Usually, those streaming services are just trying to fill their schedules and do not care who they throw $5 million to. That is why we end up with subpar and mediocre movies popping up on a streamer’s trending section over the weekend or on a Monday. It was in the new section of the service and people turned it on subconsciously, not thinking about it much. But one of the added benefits of an old studio like Warner Brothers getting a streaming service is that they have been making movies for decades. They know what will keep people interested from previous years, and they have hired younger folks with new ideas. This leads to the added benefit of having a variety of creative writers bouncing ideas off each other. It can lead to solid movies like this.
Score: 7/10
You can follow Samuel Nichols on Twitter