OIn the 50-years that have passed, marital and family roles have changed dramatically. This is especially true now that more women are involved in the workforce. What’s changed less is the notion of the wedding: sure, there are always those couples who prefer to celebrate their union with less-conventional events like beach barbecues, and those who avoid the fuss altogether by sneaking off to city hall. But even exceedingly modern, forward-thinking women still want the fantasy of the pristine white dress, the cake festooned with swags of frosting or flowers or both, the tradition of being “given away” by a father or father figure. Although some of these traditions are not in line with feminist autonomy but they still fall under tradition. These rituals connect us to our past. And that’s just one reason we have a new version of Father of the brideIn 2022, as long as young women are getting married, fathers will have mixed emotions about their children leaving.
Andy Garcia plays Billy Herrera, a successful Miami architect who tells us, in the movie’s voiceover introduction and elsewhere, how as a young man he came to the United States from Cuba with nothing. Ingrid Estefan, his wife and their beautiful home, which Billy constructed for them in years before anyone would hire, has been a place where they have made a happy life. They’ve raised two daughters: Cora (Isabela Merced) is a college dropout who has disappointed her father; he doesn’t understand her passion for clothing design (though a later revelation about her sexual orientation seems to bother him a lot less). Cora’s older sister, Sofia (Adria Arjona, recently seen in Olivier Assayas’ Irma Vep TV series, and in Marvel’s Morbius), is her father’s pride and joy, a New York City-based lawyer whom he hopes will return to Miami to practice. Instead, she comes home for a visit and drops a mini bombshell on the family: Not only is she getting married to a man they’ve never met, a sweet, swoony colleague named Adan (Diego Boneta), but she’s also moving to Mexico to work for a nonprofit.
Estefan Garcia, Garcia and Merced accept the brides and groom
Warner Bros. Pictures
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Neither of these developments pleases Billy, who seems frustrated that he can’t control everything in his orbit, including the personal lives of his kids. There’s more trouble: his own marriage is in a shambles. Ingrid has decided she’s been ignored for too long—taking a backseat to both Billy’s work and his obsession with fly fishing—and she wants out. Adan, a Mexican-American, has other surprises for Ingrid, which includes a rather unconventional family who have their own ideas on how extravagant the wedding should look. Laura Harring plays Adan’s mother. She is charming in her few moments onscreen. Mulholland Dr. fame.)
Casey Thomas Brown & Chloe Fineman are the brains behind this clueless team of wedding planners
Claudette Barius
The idea of the father who can’t wrap his brain around “losing” his daughter is perennial, which explains why this particular father-of-the-bride idea, which originated with a 1949 novel by Edward Streeter, keeps coming around. (The earlier films inspired by the book were Vincente Minnelli’s 1950 version, starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor, and a 1991 adaptation directed by Charles Shyer, with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton.) Gary Alazraki is the director (one of many creators the Netflix Spanish-language series). Club de CuervosThis was written and edited by Matt Lopez Father of the brideIt has a bright, easy-going charm. Garcia carries the film ably with his gruff elegance: it’s easy to buy him as a father who loves his daughters but who isn’t quite ready to let them be the people they need to be. Self-centered, Instagram-famous wedding plannerSNL‘s Chloe Fineman) shows up here and there with a nice, big bouquet of cluelessness: Her idea of wedding entertainment is to combine flamenco dancers with live flamingoes. With faux-spiritual humility she thanked Billy for this moment of teaching her.
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These are the little details that make this possible Father of the brideIts gentle glow. Alazraki is adept at showing the ways in which a Cuban family and a Mexican one might have some clashing values, even as those who aren’t from Hispanic or Latinx backgrounds might think, Everyone speaks Spanish, so what’s the problem? Alazraki can see the subtleties that make the story even more interesting. When Billy gets upset, he goes to Little Havana’s Domino Park, where many players are much older than him and grumpier. One of them wears two sets of glasses, one atop the other, a classic old-man look that never goes out of style—a little like the father-of-the-bride concept, which may be old, but which still has some life in it yet.
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