Father of the Bride is a 1991 American comedy film starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kimberly Williams (in her film debut), George Newbern, Martin Short, B. D. Wong, and Kieran Culkin. It is a remake of the 1950 film of the same name. Martin portrays George Banks, a businessman and owner of an athletic shoe company (called Side Kicks), who, when he finds out his daughter is getting married, does not want to give her away. He eventually learns to live with his new son-in-law and realizes that as long as his daughter is happy, he is happy.
The film opened to positive reviews, and became a major box office success, earning more than four times its budget. With its success, a sequel, Father of the Bride Part II was released in 1995. This was Nancy Meyers and Diane Keaton's second of four films together, the first being Baby Boom (1987); the others were Father of the Bride Part II (1995) and Something's Gotta Give (2003).
Plot[]
The film begins with George Banks sitting in his house right after the wedding reception of his 22-year-old daughter, Annie. George then narrates the events that lead up to Annie’s wedding. George lives in San Marino, California, with his wife, Nina, and their much younger son, Matty, and is the owner of a successful athletic shoe company called Side Kicks. Annie, freshly graduated from college, returns home after travelling around Europe. She announces that she is engaged to Bryan MacKenzie, despite them only having known each other for three months. The sudden shock turns the warm reunion into a heated argument between her and George, but they quickly reconcile in time for Bryan to arrive and meet them. Despite his good financial status and likable demeanor, George takes an immediate dislike to him, while Nina accepts him as a potential son-in-law. George does not want to let go of Annie.
George and Nina meet Bryan's parents, John and Joanna MacKenzie, who are wealthy and live in a mansion in Bel Air. John reassures George by also expressing how shocked he had initially been at Bryan's engagement and the two couples find they get along well, but George quickly gets into trouble when he begins nosing around the MacKenzies' financial records. He eventually ends up falling into their pool when cornered by their aggressive pet Dobermans.
All is forgiven, however, and the Banks family meets with an eccentric European wedding coordinator named Franck Eggelhoffer. He sneers dismissively at George's complaints about the price of wedding items, and George becomes frustrated as Annie and Nina plan for extravagant items such as a flock of swans and alterations to the family home, where the reception is to be held.
When George discovers that the wedding as planned will cost $250 a head, he insists on cutting down the guest list, but soon discovers his complaints are taking away from Annie's happiness and decides to go with the flow. This only lasts so long, though, and he finally snaps when he damages his old tuxedo. He leaves the house to cool off, but ends up causing a disturbance at the supermarket and is arrested. Nina arrives to bail him out of jail on the condition that he stop ruining the wedding.
With help from Nina and Franck, George becomes more relaxed and accepts that the wedding will be expensive. Annie suddenly calls it off after an argument with Bryan over a gift he gave her – a blender, which she took to mean he expects her to be a compliant housewife. George takes Bryan out for a drink intending to be rid of him, but seeing how despondent he is at the thought of losing Annie, consoles him and convinces him to reconcile with her.
A freak snowstorm arrives the night before the wedding, but Franck and George manage to pull everything together at the last minute. Annie marries Bryan wearing sneakers made by George's company, and George walks her down the aisle, finally accepting that she has grown up. The reception at the Banks family home goes well thanks to George managing several crises behind the scenes, but as a result, he misses most of it and is unable to say goodbye to Annie before she and Bryan leave for their honeymoon in Hawaii.
The film picks up George's narration from the beginning as the reception ends. Annie calls him 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 Stanley Banks
- Diane Keaton as Nina Banks
- Martin Short as Franck Eggelhoffer
- Kimberly Williams as Annie Banks
- Amy Young as 12-year-old Annie
- Sarah Rose Karr as 7-year-old Annie
- Marissa Lefton as 3-year-old Annie
- George Newbern as Bryan MacKenzie
- Kieran Culkin as Matty Banks
- 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
- Ira Heiden as Supermarket Stock Boy
- Eugene Levy as Singer at audition
- Tom Irish as Bob Banks, George's father