Directed By Gary Alazaraki

Starring – Andy Garcia, Gloria Estefan, Adria Arjona

The Plot – A father’s (Garcia) coming to grips with his daughter’s (Arjona) upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American clan.

Rated PG-13 for brief suggestive material

Father of the Bride | Official Trailer | HBO Max – YouTube

POSITIVES

Remaking one of the best family comedies of the 90’s is no small feat in execution for Alazaraki, however his culturally absorbing pallet and progressive social commentary on the deconstruction of traditionalism prescribes a refreshingly endearing sit that succeeds on doing its own thing while paying respects to the original. As far as things this film borrows, it’s really just the general outline of the plot, which would be needed in eliciting a Father of the Bride film in the first place, but here affords it the freedom to explore its own avenues of meaningful characters and expressive style, to which it has no limit of either, all through the eyes of this Cuban family on the rocks of devastation that feels inevitable for each of them. This affords the film a substantial amount of drama, which surprisingly serves as the dominant trait in the tonal consistency, bringing with it a few captivating perspectives in subplots that not only add to the urgency of what feels like a whirlwind narrative reciprocating the velocity of wedding planning, but also vividly illustrates each of them in ways that feel pivotal to the blending and unraveling of their family dynamic. It’s led by Garcia, who dominates each scene with a nuance to emotions that are certainly reminiscent of Steve Martin’s internal furnace, but here with a softer spoken layer of delivery to subtly influence his stone-faced demeanor against opposing forces. Garcia, like Martin, is so readable by the interpretation of the audience, affording us the accessibility of his reactions that he rarely capitalizes on in audible release, but ones we see coming from a mile away due to Andy’s impeccable range in depth that we feel when the camera zeroes in on his intensity. Arjona is equally a breath of fresh air as the titular bride in question, who embodies her father’s resiliency with a progressive idealism that serves as the catalyst for most of the film’s refreshing social commentary, all with Adria’s signature smile and gentle tenderness that makes it impossible not to see her in the way her father does. Saturday Night Live’s Chloe Fineman is also a welcome addition to the festivities, as though she plays a wedding planner character similar in construct to that of Martin Short’s from the original, her portrayal is nowhere near as obnoxious or over the top towards chewing up as much scenery as her predecessor, instead enriching the comic muscle with a sharp sting in the honesty of her delivery that feels like an actual person and not a character for comic convenience. Beyond the performances, Alazaraki is also a vital piece to the remake puzzle, as not only does he adorn each frame with a warmth and exuberance of family comfort in textures and signature style choices, but he also supplants the film with an unmistakable slice of Cuban consciousness in score and wardrobe that transpires its own identity throughout the duration of the 110-minute run time. This proves that Gary wasted no aspect of production in channeling something uniquely palpable and particular for the honor of the franchise, all the while remaining faithful to the family-first mentality that almost transcends the franchise entirely to something timelessly therapeutic compared to family comedies of the contemporary age.

NEGATIVES

While the film does a remarkable job of presenting something refreshingly original with an ages old structure, not everything hits the target of its intended mark, particularly the comedy, which can’t hold a candle to the precision in timing or physicality of Steve Martin. To be fair, there are a few laughs throughout the experience, mostly from Fineman’s aforementioned periodic levity, but its lack of consistency is troubling in balancing the tonal shifts that periodically disjoint the narrative, making its material more awkward than hilarious in reaching the effectiveness it occasionally tries so desperately to find. Because the dramatic muscle for the film is so compelling and believable in the motivations of the characters, particularly Garcia’s, when the humor does take over, it’s a bit disorienting in execution, robbing the authenticity of the engagement with sitcom-level gags that feel a bit outdated with the standards that this film supplants almost from the opening scene. In addition to this, the ending was a little too clean cut and inconsequential for my taste. Part of what I appreciated about this film’s script was the realism of marriage not working for the two respective families that the couple come from, and the real possibility that they could inherit their families’ parting with time. Unfortunately, that angle is put to bed with a predictable resolution that stinks of audience comfort, leaving the dramatic tension that the film articulated effortlessly throughout to be deduced to a momentary hiccup that cured itself as a result of a character learning the error of their ways. (Yawn). Finally, while the film is paced mostly well, there is about ten minutes that I would trim from the finished execution, mostly in the prolonging of a couple scenes during the second act that could just as easily resonate the intended direction in half of the words. 110 minutes might test audiences with the kind of story that structurally follows a previously established path, especially considering it’s the third or even fourth in the franchise (If you count the 1950 version), and with a tighter execution, it could only further add emphasis to the aforementioned urgency of wedding planning that I previously commended the movie’s pacing for.

OVERALL

Though “Father of the Bride” shares a title with a superior predecessor, the decision to blaze its own path to the alter is one that offers a surprisingly respectable approach toward cementing its own cultural traditions to the forefront of the franchise. With Garcia’s best turn in over a decade, as well as a dramatic-heavy emphasis to the tonal consistency, this is one engagement deserving of an R.S.V.P

My Grade: 7/10 or B-