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Father of the Bride 2022 Movie Review Poster Trailer Online
In the original Father of the Bride, the film followed a father who was trying to deal with all the preparations that go into making sure his daughter had a good wedding day. Not only did he have to cope with wedding costs and last-minute planning issues, but he also had to turn on the charm to become acquainted with his future in-laws. Although this dad found all of these things stressful, it turned out the crux of his problem boiled down to the fact he wasn’t ready to let his little girl turned grown woman go.
The 2022 remake builds off this plot by placing it in the context of a large Cuban-American family. It will also be interesting to see how the nuances of today’s society (i.e. social media, tech and pop culture) further distinguish this reboot from the prior movies.
It’s hard to believe that Father of the Bride first debuted in theatres in 1950. Back then, the original film featured Spencer Tracy and a young Elizabeth Taylor, and it was a huge success earning several Academy Award nominations.
Then in the ’90s, the movie was rebooted with famed Emmy-Award-winning comedian Steve Martin and Academy-Award-winning actress Diane Keaton. While the film didn’t garner any Oscar nominations, it was a box office success that eventually prompted the project to receive a sequel (and a Father of the Bride Part 3(ish) short film on Netflix).
Now in 2022, the Father of the Bride is returning with another facelift featuring an all-new cast. This time around, the classic story will be told through the prism of a Cuban-American family led by The Godfather Coda (nee The Godfather Part III) actor Andy Garcia.
Nearly 30 years after the last incarnation of Father of the Bride comes the latest update, with Andy García and Gloria Estefan filling the parental shoes previously worn by Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in 1991 (not to mention Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett in 1950). But don’t expect this version to simply be a retread of the beloved story with a Latin twist — today’s Father of the Bride, launching on HBO Max June 16, has some pretty 2022 complications.
“His marriage to his wife is on the rocks,” says García, 66, who plays Miami architect Billy, husband to Ingrid (Gloria Estefan). “It’s sliding downhill and is on a slippery slope, not because they don’t love each other. We’ve kind of grown into different spaces, and we take our marriage for granted at this point.” Adds Estefan, 64, “She’s pushing a button — that D-word with divorce. She’s trying to push him to wake up because a year of therapy certainly hadn’t woken him up. But that decision is a tough one for a Latina to make.”
A Father of the Bride where the parents don’t have picture-perfect marriage? It’s enough to make us throw a tantrum in a grocery store because we don’t want to pay for superfluous buns. Other changes? The younger sibling is not a little brother (why, yes, that was Succession’s Kieran Culkin illegally valeting wedding guests’ cars in 1991), but a little sister (Dora’s Isabela Merced). And the bride, Sophie (Adria Arjona), actually — gasp! — does the proposing herself to fiancé Adan (Diego Boneta).
And of course, the biggest change: Instead of the well-to-do, white East Coast family of 1950 or the well-to-do, white California family of 1991, the film centers on a well-to-do Cuban American family in present-day Miami. (As well as the blindingly rich Mexican American family Sophie marries into.)
“There was both an honor and an obligation to deliver a story that’s within the Latin cultures, in this case, the Cuban and the Mexican, trying to relate to one another,” says García. “There’s an obligation to do it right, represent it without stereotypes, in a way that, although it’s culturally specific, its themes are universal. Says Estefan, “The fact that we’re two Latin cultures blending in that movie — to Anglos that might seem weird because they might pile us all into one lump, when we have these subtle differences.”
Still, there are some things inherent to time-tested Father of the Bride IP: a father having a hard time letting go of his little girl; the sparkling, modern daughter; the scene-stealing wedding planner (this year’s version of Martin Short’s wacky Franck is played by fellow SNL alum Chloe Fineman). And though their characters are at odds for most of the movie, García and Estefan didn’t have to fake being in a long-term relationship: The pair have been friends for more than 30 years.
“We’re very close, so it was very easy to step into the room and say, ‘OK, now we’re married,'” says García, who previously worked with Estefan on 2000’s For Love or Country. “It was a tremendous joy for me and she’s a woman that I admire tremendously. We’re family. It was easy to step into that dynamic.”