Mother of the Bride review
Mother of the Bride trades in rom com cliches. The fleeting moments of originality quickly get stomped out in favor of the safe, predictable (read: boring) route. What’s most unfortunate is there was enough potential here to make the film work, but very little manages to come together. This is the rain on your wedding day style rom com minus the irony.
Influencer Emma (Miranda Cosgrove, the Despicable Me franchise) just got engaged to the love of her life, RJ (Sean Teale, The Gifted). The only catch now is Emma’s gotta break the news to her mother Lana (Brooke Shields).
Screenwriter Robin Bernheim (The Princess Switch) builds this moment up like Lana is the devourer of all hope and love. Lana might be a go-getter as a doctor who’s used to getting things done, but she’s hardly a horrible grinch mom. This felt like the first of several interesting paths to take where Bernheim opts for the least intriguing option.
The drama and hijinks are supposed to ensue when Lana realizes that RJ’s father is Will (Benjamin Bratt, Coco), the guy who broke her heart in college. Naturally, this makes Lana leery of the idea of Emma getting her heart crushed in the same way RJ’s father did to her. Again, this seems like a plot point that could reasonably carry the film until the dramatic final act.
Instead, that’s merely a subplot. Bernheim also explores Emma getting too caught up in the social media frenzy of her wedding. Another idea that puts a different spin on the premise with the daughter being the spastic character by trying to satiate her followers. And in this scenario, it’s Lana who over the course of the film helps Emma realize what’s really important.
Ultimately, Bernheim settles on the most obvious choice — Will and Lana rekindle those feelings from long ago to determine if this second chance of love can work. It’s safe and easy, but Shields and Bratt can make basic rom com fodder work.
Problems arise as Bernheim starts rifling through the Generic Rom Com Wikipedia page and liberally using a slew of cliches. Chad Michael Murray has an odd cameo as Lucas, a doctor with a genuine romantic interest in Lana.
Credit Bernheim here for avoiding the typical approach and making Lucas a complete tool to paint Will as a more desirable match.
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A major component of any rom com, beyond the romance, is…comedy. Mother of the Bride doesn’t offer much in the way of laughs going for balls to crotch for gags. Fussy wedding coordinator Camala (Tasneem Roc, Love and Monsters) seems like a character that’s supposed to be a big source of laughs, but the jokes don’t land.
Director Mark Waters (He’s All That) does a better job of selling tourists to Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas, Phuket, Thailand than the romance or the comedy elements.
Shields and Bratt are game, but the leap from Lana loathing the sight of Will to quickly getting caught back up is jarring enough to cause whiplash. Ironically, Lana’s warnings don’t seem totally off base as Cosgrove and Teale have “supposed to” chemistry instead of anything approaching genuine.
The supporting cast doesn’t get many opportunities to contribute. Rachael Harris (The Hangover) gets the most prominent role as Lana’s sister, Janice. Harris gets some of the film’s best lines and nails them.
Wilson Cruz and Michael McDonald get shortchanged as the married couple. Wilson’s character, Scott, gets more focus since he’s Will’s brother. Poor McDonald is left as the third wheel with Janice and Scott.
Mother of the Bride probably would have been a better film if romance and comedy didn’t decline the invitation to attend.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Photo Credit: Netflix