Father of the Bride

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Father of the Bride is a 1991 film, a Remake of a 1950 film of the same title. It stars Steve Martin and Diane Keaton as George and Nina Banks (no, not THAT George Banks) as the parents of Annie Banks (Kimberly Williams Paisley) who is about to get married to Bryan MacKenzie, and while her rather skinflint Bumbling Dad nearly has an aneurysm about the costs of the wedding, he realises slowly that Annie has grown up and leaving him. Yes, it sounds cliché, but the film has so many warm moments.

In 1995 there was a sequel where both Annie and her mother are pregnant.

Tropes used in Father of the Bride include:
  • Ambiguously Gay: Franck Egglehoffer and assistant Howard Weinstein.
  • Babies Make Everything Better: Averted at first in Part II, Nina reacts badly when George jokes around at them being parents at their age. And Annie reacts badly when she learns her and her mother will be pregnant at the same time. But then played straight once they actually give birth.
  • Bumbling Dad: George, and to some extent Bryan's Dad, John.
  • But I Can't Be Pregnant: Nina in Part II, who thought she was going through menopause.
  • Cool Car: George's car which gets him a little attention in Part II. Also, Annie and Bryan's car which was a wedding present from his parents.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: So many!
  • Daddy's Girl: Annie, and it is implied at the end of Part II that Megan will fill that role once Annie leaves for Boston.
    • In the first film, we even see Annie as she appears to her dad, a cute little girl in pigtails.
    • This quote sums up this trope:

George: You have a little girl. An adorable little girl who looks up to you and adores you in a way you could never imagine. I remember how her little hand used to fit inside mine. How she used to sit in my lap and lean her head against my chest. She said that I was her hero.

George: What can I say? I'm a father. Worrying comes with the territory.

George: I'll tell you what I'm doing. I want to buy eight hot dogs and eight hot dog buns to go with them. But no one sells eight hot dog buns. They only sell twelve hot dog buns. So I end up paying for four buns I don't need. So I am removing the superfluous buns. Yeah. And you want to know why? Because some big-shot over at the wiener company got together with some big-shot over at the bun company and decided to rip off the American public. Because they think the American public is a bunch of trusting nit-wits who will pay for everything they don't need rather than make a stink. Well they're not ripping of this nitwit anymore because I'm not paying for one more thing I don't need. George Banks is saying NO!

  • Rule of Funny: A lot of comedic sequences in this film are just played for laughs, like the pool sequence in the first film and the scene with the house being demolished in Part II.
  • She's All Grown Up
  • Shout-Out: The clock that Annie is given that looks like Michelangelo's David was also a gift in the original film.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: This is what Annie thinks Bryan expects of her in their marriage when he gives her a blender as a wedding present.
  • Team Dad: George, of course.
  • Team Mom: Nina, we can see their different points of view in the arguments that they have through the films.
  • Time Compression Montage: There's two of these in the first movie. The first one shows the months leading up to the wedding and the second one shows a much longer period of time where Annie is growing up.
  • With This Ring
  • You Look Familiar: Eugene Levy played the wedding singer in the first film and an Arabic real estate mogul in the sequel.
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