In director Gaz Alazraki’s Father of the Bride—the third film adaptation of Edward Streeter’s 1949 novel of the same name—there is plenty of talk of tradition and breaking from the expectations of the past. In this latest iteration, Andy Garcia plays Billy Herrera, who came from Cuba at a young age to become an architect in Miami. His buildings have a classic style that looks to the past, and Billy frequents waxes nostalgic about his early days in Florida, getting married in a bingo hall to Ingrid (Gloria Estefan), and how far he’s come since then. Throughout Father of the Bride, we see how Billy and other characters move forward to carve a new path, while still continuing to embrace the traditions of the past.
Similarly, Father of the Bride tries to forge its own path outside the previous two iterations of this story, while also attempting to pay homage to what worked so well in the past. While the screenplay by Matt Lopez (Race to Witch Mountain, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) attempts to do this, Father of the Bride learns the wrong lessons from the previous iterations, creating an oddly dark version of this story that lacks the humor and heart throughout that this story requires.
This shift is almost immediately clear in the opening moments of Father of the Bride, as Billy and Ingrid are fighting in marriage counseling. After a year of struggling to make it work, the two decide it’s time to call it quits. Their plan to tell their family about the divorce is thrown off when their oldest daughter Sofia (Adria Arjona) comes home and reveals that she’s getting married and moving to Mexico. With Sofia and her fiancé Adan (Diego Boneta) getting married in just a few months, Billy and Ingrid hide their surprise from Sofia and their other daughter Cora (Isabela Merced) until after the wedding.
From there, the beats are fairly similar to what we’ve seen in the past, as the father worries about the plans that this daughter is making. Whereas in previous versions, the father is usually worried about the money being spent for the nuptials, here, it’s more about Billy worried that Sofia is straying too far from the way things have been done in the past. Sofia doesn’t want a Catholic service, she doesn’t want a big wedding, and she doesn’t want to be reined in by her father’s own plans.
Yet while Father of the Bride fundamentally doesn’t have the warmth or comedy that has made this such a beloved story for decades. Garcia is quite good here, mixing charm and a love for his family and his daughter—who can turn him into a big ol teddy bear just by looking at him. But the script doesn’t have the humor that this story usually has, for those expecting to see Garcia go full Spencer Tracy or Steve Martin in this role. While most of the humor in other versions centered on the father’s worry about the wedding, this Father of the Bride has to rely on other tactics for its humor, since Billy doesn’t exactly warrant this type of comedy.
One of the film’s broadest attempts at humor comes in Saturday Night Live’s Chloe Fineman, a wedding planner that is trying to evoke the spirit of Martin Short’s Franck, but through a millennial lens. While this performance does provide some funny moments (Fineman’s pronunciation of “Latinx” is particularly hilarious), the schtick can get to be a bit too much, playing with exhausted tropes that have already been done to death.
As is the case with all versions of this story, the wedding ultimately takes place at the Herrera home, and it’s in this tried-and-true story beat where Father of the Bride shows its strengths. Alazraki’s camera flies through the Herrera home with excitement, showing its transformation into a wedding venue, and gathering the family and friends into this abode shows the warmth and heart that the film has been lacking up to this point. It’s in these final scenes where Garcia can show what he brings to this role, the film can finally give some lovely moments between Garcia and Estefan, and the tenderness of this story can finally shine through. Father of the Bride eventually gets to where it tonally needs to be, but unfortunately, it takes a bit too long to get to that point.
Father of the Bride has its heart in the right place, trying to adapt this beloved story for another generation and audience, but by shifting too much away from the traditions of the past, Father of the Bride doesn’t have the same magic that its previous versions have been able to generate.
Rating: C+
Father of the Bride is now streaming on HBO Max.