Father of the Bride parents guide

Father of the Bride Parent Guide

For better or worse, this remake is weightier than the original, but still funny.

Overall B+

HBO Max/Crave: When Sofia brings her new boyfriend home, her parents are surprised to hear that they plan a quick wedding and a move to Mexico. For her father, the wedding is one more challenge in a life already bursting with them.

Release date June 16, 2022

Violence A-
Sexual Content B
Profanity B
Substance Use C

Why is Father of the Bride rated PG-13? The MPAA rated Father of the Bride PG-13 for brief suggestive material

Run Time: 117 minutes

Parent Movie Review

Billy had no idea success could feel so hollow. Born Guillermo Herrera (Andy Garcia) in Cuba, he emigrated to Miami, working his way up from parking valet to carpenter to successful architect. But now his wife (Ingrid, played by Gloria Estefan) wants a divorce, his youngest daughter, Cora (Isabela Merced), has dropped out of university to pursue a fashion design career, and his oldest daughter and promising lawyer, Sofia (Adria Arjona), has announced that she’s getting married.

Her announcement throws Billy into turmoil. Not only is Sofia marrying Adan (Diego Boneta), a Mexican lawyer Billy has never met, but the couple are getting married in two months and then moving to Mexico where they will be lawyers for a non-profit organization. Sofia and Adan insist they want a small, intimate wedding, but Billy objects. In his mind, it’s the responsibility of the father of the bride to pay for a wedding – and a Cuban father’s duty to ensure all the traditions are upheld. What Billy hasn’t counted on is that the groom’s father has some traditions he’s attached to - and there’s a giant storm bearing down on Florida with ideas of its own.

This film is a remake of 1991’s Father of the Bride, with Steve Martin in the title role. Although the movies share the same basic premise – uptight father copes with daughter’s marriage – the tone of the two stories is very different. The original film was light, warm-hearted, and often zany. This movie is more shadowed, with plenty of family conflict and emotional pain. It’s not as fun a film, but it will resonate with anyone who’s dealt with wedding-related family drama. The remake also provides a story too often left untold, one of adult growth and change. In the short weeks before his daughter’s wedding, Billy is forced to take stock of his life, reassess his achievements, and reconsider the kind of man he has become. That he has the humility to undertake this painful journey makes his epiphany possible and provides the emotional grounding for the story. Fortunately, Andy Garcia is able to manage the heavy lifting here and make the story believable. He’s also well-matched by Gloria Estefan whose Ingrid is convincingly hurt, bitter, and weary.

This sounds like it could be a heavy or depressing film, but Father of the Bride manages to maintain its comic cred. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments in the movie, including some delicious irony. Secondary characters provide comic relief and while Chloe Fineman as Natalie Vance isn’t as unforgettable as Martin Short’s Franck, she’s still ditzy enough for some laughs.

If you’re considering this film for family viewing, you can be assured that negative content is minimal. There’s some kissing, a very brief moment in a strip club, and minor swearing but the biggest issue is alcohol consumption. Not surprisingly, people drink at the wedding and the social functions leading up to it, with some characters briefly shown as intoxicated. Thankfully, Father of the Bride also comes with strong positive messages about the importance of family, emotional resilience, personal growth, transformation, and forgiveness. In an added bonus, the film clearly demonstrates that elaborate and expensive wedding plans are unimportant – a message future fathers of brides will definitely want their daughters to absorb.

Directed by Gaz Alazraki. Starring Adria Arjona, Andy Garcia, Gloria Estefan, Diego Boneta. Running time: 117 minutes. Theatrical release June 16, 2022. Updated

Watch the trailer for Father of the Bride

Father of the Bride
Rating & Content Info

Why is Father of the Bride rated PG-13? Father of the Bride is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for brief suggestive material

Violence: Men throw punches in a boxing match that is shown on TV. There are scenes of destruction after a storm. Characters occasionally raise their voices when angry.
Sexual Content: Women are seen in scanty swimwear. There’s brief mention of an unmarried couple sleeping together. Scantily clad strippers are briefly seen at a bachelor party. An engaged couple kiss on several occasions. Two women dance together.
Profanity: There are just under 20 terms of deity in the movie and five minor profanities. Ratings agencies indicate a scatological curse, but I didn’t hear it.
Alcohol / Drug Use: Adults drink alcohol in social situations. A woman carries a bottle of wine but no one is shown drinking it. Characters are intoxicated at a bar. Adults are shown hung over and sniffing Vicks VapoRub to cope. A distraught character is shown with a beer bottle but isn’t seen drinking it. Men smoke cigars.

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Father of the Bride Parents' Guide

Why is Billy’s marriage collapsing? How does his well-earned pride in his achievements get in the way of his relationships? What causes him to reconsider his life and attitudes? How does his love for his wife and daughters influence him? What leads Billy to reconsider his attitude towards Adan? What does he learn from his future son-in-law?

Weddings are loaded with cultural baggage. What are some significant wedding traditions in your culture? Are they important to you? Do you want to create traditions of your own? Why do you think those would be meaningful?  Why do Adan and Sofia have such a hard time getting the type of wedding they want?

Home Video

Related home video titles:

If wedding comedy is what you’re looking for, you can start with the 1991 Father of the Bride and its sequel, Father of the Bride Part II. For more wedding mayhem, you can laugh out loud with the bride and groom in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. A less family-friendly, but more musical, take on weddings can be found in Mamma Mia! which uses ABBA tunes as the soundtrack for a wedding on a Greek isle. If you’re sick and tired of syrupy wedding flicks, you can take a turn for the dark side in Ready or Not, in which a young bride learns some horrifying truths about her new in-laws.

When Ingrid scolds her husband’s family for behaving like Sharks and Jets, she’s referencing West Side Story.