Mother of the Bride is a romantic comedy film that captures the chaos of wedding preparation along with a twist encounter with an ex. The film directed by Mark Waters and the screenplay is written by Robin Bernheim. It has a total runtime of 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The cast of the film includes Brooke Shields as Lana Winslow, Miranda Cosgrove as Emma Rose Winslow, Benjamin Bratt as Will Jackson, Chad Michael Murray as Lucas, Rachael Harris as Janice, Sean Teale as RJ, Wilson Cruz as Scott, Michael McDonald as Clay, Tasneem Roc as Camala and Dalip Sondhi as Harley.
In Mother of the Bride, Emma, Lana’s daughter, returns from abroad and shocks her mother with the news of her upcoming wedding in Thailand in just a month. Lana’s dismay only deepens when she discovers that Emma’s fiancé is the son of the man who had broken her heart years ago.
Mother of the Bride Review
What would you do in a situation where you have found the love of your life, everything’s going great, your partner wants to get married to you – but then you realise that your mother and future father-in-law were ex-lovers with still lingering feelings? That’s what Emma Winslow had to deal with when she brought everyone together to Phuket, for her destination wedding.
We get the hint that Emma’s mother, Lana is somewhat of a controlling, perfectionist mother – from the way Emma feel hesitant to break the good news. But to bring her face-to-face with the man who broke her heart in college, was definitely a big task she didn’t sign up for. On top of being overly protective of her daughter, Lana becomes sceptical of her soon-to-be son-in-law, RJ, fearing that he would break Emma’s heart as well. Also, trying to look well put together in front of Will, only leads to more awkward situations.
On the other hand, Emma is a social media influencer who has just started to flourish her reach. Thus, her aesthetic and mostly sponsored wedding has to look the best for the social media. Trying to achieve all at once, her wedding more and more becomes like a never ending shoot, than a personal affair to celebrate with family and friends.
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Although it’s new to see an influencer’s nuptial disasters being drafted into a fictional story, sadly, the film becomes exactly what it’s trying to make fun of. The creators portray how Emma is so blinded to get designer sponsorships that she is ready to make her family look like a pair of crows at the wedding. Meanwhile, Mother of the Bride is a feature length product placement for the resort they are staying at, and have added odd scenes to encapsulate everything the resort has to offer.
One could keep the PPL aside, since they needed to get the movie funded. However, despite having seasoned actors the chemistry between characters is nowhere to be seen. Especially Emma and RJ, by making them kiss in every scene doesn’t mean that their ‘missing’ chemistry would be sufficed. Lana and Will’s character do somewhat make up for it yet there seems to be something lacking. Also, adding a weirdness factor since their kids are getting married and if they also link up, does that mean the newlywed would become half-siblings(?)
Along with the romance, the comedy doesn’t look too good as well. They try hard to make puns, innuendos and some slapstick comedy but they are a complete miss. Simply unfunny in one word. And everything looks like a set-up (which it technically is), like does Emma even have friends/bridemaids or they are just paid actors by her brand manager? The only positive thing is to see the late 90s and 2000s familar faces once again like Brooke Shields, Benjamin Bratt, and Chad Michael Murray.
Seeing them in Mother of the Bride makes one realise how much times has passed and how different your life was, when they were the lead choices. If you really feel like watching a cliche and slightly uncanny rom-com, then the film is an okay-ish watch. Just to dig into the nostalgic feeling don’t expect it to be like the classics.
Rating: 2.5/5
Mother of the Bride is available to watch on Netflix.
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