Our Family Wedding parents guide

Our Family Wedding Parent Guide

While the conclusion attempts to tie up every last string and ensure nobody leaves the theater without a smile, "Our Family Wedding" likely won't leave you wishing for another invitation.

Overall C

Family cultures collide after Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera) and Marcus Boyd (Lance Gross) announce their intention to marry. Their fathers (Carlos Mencia and Forest Whitaker) seem to have the hardest time accepting the engagement because neither can overlook the couple's color and class differences.

Release date March 12, 2010

Violence B-
Sexual Content C+
Profanity C-
Substance Use C

Why is Our Family Wedding rated PG-13? The MPAA rated Our Family Wedding PG-13 for some sexual content and brief strong language.

Run Time: 103 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

If you can remember when Sidney Poitier had to break the ice with his white suburban in-laws in the 1967 movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, then you’ll be able to guess what problem is about to erupt during Our Family Wedding. In this updated version the clash happens between Hispanics and African Americans.

The potential groom, Marcus Boyd (Lance Gross) has more than cultural and racial differences to bridge after he and his fiancée Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera) return to their family’s homes in Los Angeles to announce their engagement. Their fathers, Brad Boyd and Miguel Ramirez (Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia), have already had a previous close encounter of the interracial kind when Ramirez’s towing company hauled Brad’s costly car away for a parking violation. Add Lucia’s mother Donia (Diana-Maria Riva) in the throws of a midlife crisis, and her Mexican grandmother (Lupe Ontiveros) who literally faints the first time she sets eyes on Marcus’s black skin, and you have a recipe for a mixed bag of racial tensions, uncomfortable jokes and tedious wedding plans. And all this fun happens before a goat eats Brad’s bulk-sized bottle of Viagra.

This movie should have had great family-viewing potential. Messages about racial harmony, and the importance of families and marriage are overriding themes. Unfortunately these positive elements are painfully developed through a non-stop series of difficult meetings and angry encounters. As well, we learn that Brad, a popular smooth-talking radio host, slept with countless women after his first marriage broke up. (We also see his imagination envisioning his ex being run over by a bus.) His best friend and lawyer (Regina King), truly the most levelheaded character in the script, tries to help him navigate his minefield of a life, but you have to wonder what motivates her to care for this playboy.

Non-explicit sexual discussions and infrequent profanities are among the content concerns. However, while bad words are few in number, they do include a sexual expletive and another crude term for sex, along with terms of deity. Family squabbles abound, racial slurs are heard and alcohol flows freely in some scenes. Finally, there’s the goat that takes a liking to Brad for a few seconds of animal awkwardness.

While the conclusion attempts to tie up every last string and ensure nobody leaves the wedding without a mate (or the theater without a smile) Our Family Wedding likely won’t leave you wishing for an invitation to the clans’ next shindig.

Directed by Rick Famuyiwa. Starring America Ferrera, Lance Gross, Forest Whitaker, Carlos Mencia. Running time: 103 minutes. Theatrical release March 12, 2010. Updated

Our Family Wedding
Rating & Content Info

Why is Our Family Wedding rated PG-13? Our Family Wedding is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for some sexual content and brief strong language.

Non-explicit sexual discussions occur a few times during this movie, with talk about premarital sex, pregnancy, and women considering ways their mother might relieve her sexual frustrations. A goat eats a large bottle of Viagra pills, and later the animal is briefly seen thrusting against a man. A couple kisses and embraces on a sofa. A man’s promiscuous sexual behavior is discussed. A bus is seen running over a woman during an imaginary sequence. Men begin to wrestle and fight during a baseball game. A couple throw food at each other in a bakery. Frequent family quarrels are heard. Language includes infrequent profanities, along with a sexual expletive, a crude term for sex and terms of deity. Characters frequently consume alcohol at social events and are seen drinking to relieve stress on two occasions.

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Our Family Wedding Parents' Guide

What is the significance of the identified ethnicities in this film? Do you think American society is any more tolerant of interracial marriage than it was in 1967 when Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, was released?

A character in this film says, "If your lady loves you, she laughs at your jokes." How important is a sense of humor in a relationship?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Our Family Wedding movie is July 13, 2010. Here are some details…

Release Date: 13 July 2010

Our Family Wedding releases to DVD and Blu-ray with the following bonus extras:

- Deleted Scenes: Lucia and Miguel Toss the Ball, The Families Meet Gusto; the Families Walk and Talk Outside of Gusto’s on the Street, Marcus Asks Angela to Stand in for His Mother, Angela’s House The Morning After, Brad is Pouring His Heart Out on the Radio andThe Director’s Cut Ending

- Extended Scenes:Police Station: Sonia and Miguel Discuss Lucia and Marcus and Angela Discovers Tipsy #1

- Featurette: Til Dads Do Us Part

- Gag Reel

Related home video titles:

The stress of wedding preparations and having to let go plague a usually mild-mannered man in The Father of the Bride. America Ferrera can also be seen in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2.