As a child of the 80s and early 90s, I remember my parents getting overly excited over a Steve Martin comedy, Father of the Bride. When it first came out in 1991, I was still in high school and not the target audience for the insanity that was being presented on screen. Almost thirty-five years later, I have a grown-up daughter, but she has yet to show any interest in getting married. Instead, she is content to be who she is for the time being. I have yet to deal with a child getting married, son or daughter, but I do remember my own wedding and the insanity that led up to that blessed occasion. I’d like to think it wasn’t anywhere near as hectic as what Steve Martin went through, but to be honest, I don’t know for sure. The planning for receptions and ceremonies was handled by our parents.
I was vaguely aware that that film was a remake, but at that stage in my life, I was not watching older films and they weren’t readily available, either. That would change as I grew up and found a great love for classic cinema. Now, I find myself more interested in this little gem of a film from the 1950s than I ever did for that remake, and that goes double for the sequel and its remake. As good as I feel Steve Martin can be with the right material, Spencer Tracy is, and always will be, better. There is an organic feel to the comedy in the 1950s film that just isn’t there in 1991.
Watching Spencer Tracy stress over the expense, the fears over who should and should not be invited to the reception, and his feeble attempts to control an uncontrollable situation are more relatable to me than anything I remember seeing in the newer film. Of course, I may just be misremembering the 1991 film; I haven’t seen it since it was fairly new, whereas I have seen the original several times over the last few years. Regardless, I can empathize with Spencer Tracy throughout this film and feel for him when he misses out on seeing his daughter at the wedding reception. Some of the comedy is a bit dated, but that kind of stuff has never bothered me much.
The plot can be boiled down to a single sentence: A girl gets engaged, and her father goes crazy paying for an elaborate wedding and reception. Everything else is in service of this basic plot. Spencer Tracy, as Stanley T. Banks, is the primary point-of-view, complete with narration that gives us key insight into his state of mind throughout the entire affair. His wife, Ellie (Joan Bennett), informs him one morning that their daughter, Kay (Elizabeth Taylor), is getting engaged to Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor), a young man that he isn’t sure he has ever met. This starts in motion the usual things the father of the bride would worry about: is he financially stable, is she sure she really loves him, is she even old enough to be getting married? It doesn’t matter that Ellie was even younger when Stanley married her. That was different. He sits down with Buckley to have a conversation about the man’s financial situation only to monopolize the time talking about his own finances. Buckley seems like a solid enough man with a good future ahead of him, but Stanley has trouble warming up to the idea of his daughter getting married.
When he and his wife meet the soon-to-be in-laws, too much alcohol is consumed as Stanley allows his enjoyment of a well-made martini to override his good judgment, and before the night is over, he is more than a little tipsy. Then the reality of the situation starts to sink in as planning gets underway for the announcement party, the wedding itself, and the reception afterwards. Prices start adding up, and Stanley wants to cut corners wherever he can to save money. But Ellie insists that a wedding is something their daughter will remember and cherish for the rest of her life, and no expense should be spared. This causes tension between the couple as he tries to reign her in with the realities of money, limited space in their modest home for the lavishly planned reception, and even whether or not to have a wedding cake. What initially is planned to be a small service soon balloons into a giant gathering with over two hundred guests, none of whom either side is willing to trim from.
This film mines for comedy through the very real issues that fathers of the bride would encounter in the build-up to the blessed day. I found myself wincing at the $400 price tag for the wedding cake, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration the price in 1950s money. I would balk at that price in 2024 when that money goes a lot less far. All things considered, Stanley takes it all a lot better than I would.
Then, just when you think it couldn’t get any more crazy, Kay comes home to declare the wedding is off because she and Buckley fought over going fishing on their honeymoon. This is marginally better than the choice made in 1991 to break up the couple over the choice of a bad wedding present. This is a more realistic fight that could break out between a couple just learning to make decisions together. It would have worked even better had the conflict been extended beyond just the few short minutes it is awarded, though. As it stands, the couple has made up again within minutes, and there is no more drama between them.
There are no wrong notes played throughout the course of this picture. This is a realistic depiction of what giving a daughter away would be like. It’s a subject that is timeless and relevant even to modern-day audiences. Weddings are considered special days, and in many cases, justifications for elaborate spending are plentiful. A father naturally wants that day to be special for his daughter, but getting there without bankrupting the family can be difficult. On top of the expense, though, is the stress and worry that she is making the right decision in whom she is marrying. All of this is portrayed to,perfection by Spencer Tracy.
This is a lighthearted comedy that is poignant and relatable. But is it Academy Award Best Picture worthy? Even as I write this, I’m not sure. It touches on a lot of the emotions of this special time in life, but it’s also a little too light in the way it is handled. It lacks the biting satire that would elevate this above the genre. When it is playing up the comedy, it sometimes plays it too broad, such as when Stanley misses out on his speech at the announcement party because he is too busy mixing drinks for a never-ending line of guests in the kitchen. His inability to catch up with the newlyweds at the reception almost falls into this trap, too, but is ultimately saved by Spencer Tracy’s performance as he keeps missing them. His joy at the end when Kay calls him from the train station to say she loves him is the perfect capper to this film.
Father of the Bride is a funny comedy that strikes all the right notes to induce laughter and anxiety, depending on if you’ve gone through a daughter’s wedding before or are going to be going through one soon. The comedy works because it is believable and organic to the situation. This feels like reality and not something dreamed up by some Hollywood screenwriter. For that, this film has a timeless quality that has allowed it to endure on as a great film. It was followed up just one year later with 1951’s Father’s Little Dividend, a film that takes this formula to the natural next level but couldn’t quite replicate the magic a second time.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Motion Picture: Pandro S. Berman
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy
Best Screenplay: Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
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Release Date: June 16, 1950
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor
Directed By: Vincente Minnelli
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