Father of the Bride

Father of the Bride is a 1991 American comedy film starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, George Newbern, Martin Short, B.D. Wong and Kieran Culkin. It is a remake of the 1950 film of the same name. In 1995, a sequel, Father of the Bride Part II, was released.

The film inspired a series of Hallmark commercials that featured the smiling faces of the happy couple and sneak-peeks at the backs of numerous greeting cards. This film is number 92 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Plot
George Banks (Steve Martin) is an upper-middle-class owner of an athletic shoe company in San Marino, California, whose 22-year-old daughter, Annie (Kimberly Williams), returns from Europe, telling them she has decided to marry Bryan MacKenzie (George Newbern), a man from an upper-class family from Bel-Air, despite only knowing each other for three months. The sudden shock turns the warm reunion into a heated argument between George and Annie, but they quickly reconcile in time for Bryan to arrive and meet them. Despite Bryan's good financial status and likeable demeanour, George takes an immediate dislike to him while his wife, Nina (Diane Keaton), accepts the young man as a potential son-in-law.

George and Nina meet Bryan's parents, John and Joanna. Though George feels comfort from John also expressing how shocked he had initially been at Bryan's marriage plans, George quickly gets into trouble when he begins nosing around and eventually ends up falling into the pool when cornered by the MacKenzie's vicious pet Dobermans. All is forgotten, however, and the Banks meet with an eccentric European wedding designer, Franck Eggelhoffer (Martin Short) and his assistant, Howard Weinstein (B.D. Wong), where George immediately begins complaining about the price of the extravagant wedding items. The high price, $250 a head, plus the problems of wedding invitations and extensive remodelling of a room in the house begin to take their toll on George and he becomes slightly insane. The final straw occurs when George's small tuxedo, which he had struggled to put on, rips when he bends his back. George leaves the house to cool off, but ends up causing a disturbance at a supermarket. Fed up with paying for things he doesn't want, he starts removing hot dog buns from their 12-bun packets so as to match the 8-dog packets of sausages. He ends up arrested, but Nina arrives to bail him out on the condition that he stop ruining Annie's wedding.

With help from Nina and Franck, George becomes more relaxed and accepting of the wedding, particularly when Bryan and Annie receive rather expensive gifts from extended family members, but the wedding plans are put on hold when Bryan and Annie have a row over a blender Bryan gave to Annie as a gift, which only got worse when Annie refused to believe Bryan's story about George's antics at his house when he fell in the pool. George takes Bryan out for a drink, initially intending to get rid of him for good, but seeing Bryan's heartbroken face and genuine claim that he loves Annie, George has a change of heart and finally accepts Bryan. He confesses to Annie that what happened at Bryan's house was true, and Annie and Bryan reconcile.

Despite some last minute problems with the weather, the wedding is finally prepared, almost one year after Bryan and Annie's first meeting. Bryan and Annie marry and a party is held at the house, despite a nosy police officer objecting to the number of parked cars in their street. George, unfortunately, misses Annie throwing the bouquet and is unable to see his daughter before she and Bryan leave for their honeymoon. Annie, however, calls George from the airport to thank him and tell him that she loves him one last time before they board the plane.

With the house now empty and the wedding finished, George finds solace with Nina and dances with her.

Cast

 * Steve Martin as George Banks
 * Diane Keaton as Nina Banks
 * Kimberly Williams as Annie Banks
 * George Newbern as Bryan MacKenzie
 * Kieran Culkin as Matty Banks
 * Martin Short as Franck Eggelhoffer
 * BD Wong as Howard Weinstein
 * Peter Michael Goetz as John MacKenzie
 * Kate McGregor-Stewart as Joanna MacKenzie
 * Richard Portnow as Al
 * David Pasquesi as Hanck
 * Chauncey Leopardi as Cameron
 * Eugene Levy as Singer at audition
 * Marissa Lefton as 3-year-old Annie
 * Sarah Rose Karr as 7-year-old Annie
 * Amy Young as 12-year-old Annie

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was scored by Alan Silvestri and was influenced by Jazz and Christmas instrumentations. It contains the following tracks:


 * 1) "Main Title"
 * 2) "Annie's Theme"
 * 3) "Drive to Brunch"
 * 4) "Snooping Around"
 * 5) "Pool Cue"
 * 6) "Annie Asleep"
 * 7) "Basketball Kiss"
 * 8) "The Wedding"
 * 9) "Snow Scene"
 * 10) "Nina at the Stairs"
 * 11) "The Big Day"
 * 12) "Annie at the Mirror
 * 13) "Pachelbel Canon"
 * 14) "The Way You Look Tonight" - Alan Silvestri, Fields, Dorothy
 * 15) "My Annie's Gone"
 * 16) "The Way You Look Tonight (Reprise)"
 * 17) "End Credits"

The following songs are also featured in the film:
 * "My Girl" - The Temptations
 * "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Going to Marry" - Darlene Love
 * "Chapel of Love" - The Dixie Cups

Reception
The film opened to generally favorable reviews. It currently has 72% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 39 reviews. Contrastingly, it received 51/100 on Metacritic. Roger Ebert called Bride "one of the movies with a lot of smiles and laughter in it, and a good feeling all the way through. Just everyday life, warmly observed."

Awards and Nominations

 * MTV Movie Awards
 * 1992; nominated, "Best Breakthrough Performance" - Kimberly Williams
 * 1992; nominated, "Best Comedic Performance" - Steve Martin


 * BMI Film Awards
 * 1993: won, "Best Movie" - Father of the Bride


 * Young Artist Award
 * 1993; nominated, "Best Young Actor Co-starring in a Motion Picture" - Kieran Culkin

Box office
The film drew $15 million on its debut.