Parents' Guide to

Father of the Bride

Movie NR 2022 117 minutes
Father of the Bride 2022 Movie Poster

Common Sense Media Review

Jennifer Green By Jennifer Green , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 13+

More dramatic Miami-set remake has swearing, drinking.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 9+

Based on 3 parent reviews

age 15+

age 10+

Good remake

What's the Story?

In FATHER OF THE BRIDE, star student and law school grad Sofia Herrera (Adria Arjona) is home in Miami for a visit. What she doesn't know is that her wealthy parents, Billy (Andy Garcia) and Ingrid (Gloria Estefan), are splitting up. When Sofia announces that she's engaged, Billy and Ingrid opt to hide their divorce until after the wedding. Sofia's fiancé, Adan (Diego Boneta), is a modern man who does yoga and plans to prioritize his wife's career, which confuses the more traditional Billy. The antics really get going when Adan's Mexican family -- led by uber-rich patriarch Hernan Castillo (Pedro Damian) -- arrives, an underqualified wedding planner (SNL's Chloe Fineman) gets involved, and Sofia's unconventional sister, Cora (Isabela Merced), is drafted to make the bridal party's dresses.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (2 ):

This may be the most serious retelling yet of the classic family tale, and the updated setting and characters give it a whole new life. There's definitely comedy in this version of Father of the Bride, but, from the very beginning, the tone is more "middle-age existential crisis" than "bumbling patriarch." The movie opens with Garcia summarizing his rags-to-riches immigrant tale in a voice-over and concluding, "So if I did everything right, how the hell did I end up here?" Flash to Billy and Ingrid on opposite ends of a therapist's couch. Their pending divorce and marital issues are portrayed as realistic, not comedic, and both actors seem more comfortable in the dramatic range. Their characters have built an enviable life, full of extended family, which the film embraces as both cultural and a device to get viewers invested in their reconciliation.

Sofia's family is Cuban American, and the in-laws to be are Mexican, a combo that provides some cultural humor, as well as "teachable moments." The film confronts stereotypes in ways both funny (the clueless wedding planner pitching a flamenco-flamingo themed wedding, or Cuban and Mexican men hurling colloquial insults at each other) and insightful (Garcia correcting "immigrant" to "exile" and stressing "I don't know what 'Latinx' means"). The characters are also grappling with a lot of generational change, including gender roles. When a Mexican character asks a group from the two families why they're all speaking English, it's a meta moment for the film, but characters continue to use English together even in private pairs. Still, some Spanish is thrown in, and not all of it subtitled. That, together with Mexican director Gaz Alazraki and cinematographer Igor Jadue-Lillo's loving filming of Miami, suggests that the story, while universal, is playing directly to a Latino audience. The Latin jazz soundtrack is a bonus.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how this version of Father of the Bride compares with previous adaptations, if you've seen them. What changed? What stayed the same? Why do you think filmmakers choose to remake a movie?

  • How does Billy show his love for his family, and why is that not enough for them?

  • What aspects of Cuban and Mexican culture are depicted in this film?

Movie Details

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