Mother of the Bride unwittingly tells you everything you need to know about it right at the opening logos: the expected Netflix logo and one for the Motion Picture Corporation of America, a company I’ve never heard of that apparently specializes in low-budget comedies, such as Dumb and Dumber, the A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch franchises, and Irish Wish earlier this year.
Even without knowing their filmography, I would still say this logo tells you everything about the film before it starts because “Motion Picture Corporation of America” sounds like the most generic name for a movie studio ever and Mother of the Bride is unfortunately about as generic a romantic comedy as you can get, aside from a handful of key details that honestly make it worse.
Also Read: Irish Wish Review – No Magic In Lindsay Lohan Netflix Rom-Com
Mother of the Bride Plot
Our story centers on Dr. Lana Winslow, a geneticist played by Brooke Shields, who receives an unexpected visit from her daughter Emma, a career Instagram influencer played by Miranda Cosgrove, with massive news. She’s getting married in Thailand in one month.
Despite the abruptness of the news, Lana is happy for her daughter and all seems well when they arrive in Thailand. Until Lana discovers that her daughter is marrying the son of her college ex-boyfriend played by Benjamin Bratt. Will the two of them be able to keep it together for the sake of their kids’ wedding? And, in the midst of her daughter experiencing true love, will Lana find love of her own?
Mother of the Bride Critique
To give credit where it’s due, Mother of the Bride is completely honest about exactly what it is. A trope-filled, comfort food romantic comedy in the same vein as the Hallmark Christmas movies, but presumably for Mother’s Day instead given the release window and subject matter.
Almost every classic romantic trope is here: partially heard conversations, working too much and eventually getting back at the boss, the sassy best friend, the gay couple that’s supposed to make up for the fact that the straight to queer romantic comedy ratio is about 37,000 to 1 if we’re being generous. Think of a trope, Mother of the Bride most likely has it.
And there’s nothing wrong with that sort of “turn your brain off” rom-com in theory. The Hallmark Christmas movies didn’t become as popular as they are out of nowhere and personally, I rather enjoyed Friends and Family Christmas this past holiday season despite it doing many of the same things as Mother of the Bride.
If you just want to see attractive-looking people in a familiar story in the gorgeously shot country of Thailand, this film certainly provides on that end. Plus, the cast all does a very solid job with the material they’re given.But that material is where the problem comes in.
The best versions of these kinds of rom-coms make up for the trope-driven storytelling with memorable comedic set-pieces. For example, the aforementioned Friends and Family Christmas features a scene where our romantic leads have to stuff a giant teddy bear into a cab and then carry it up a flight of stairs. It’s funny, it’s unique, and I still remember it almost six months after the only time I watched the movie.
Mother of the Bride doesn’t have anything like that. Every comedic bit feels like something you’ve seen a million times before in other, better movies. Guys getting hit in the groin, people falling into water, that sort of thing. None of the extremely talented comedians really get a chance to be funny here. It’s especially disappointing to see how wasted Miranda Cosgrove is as Emma given both her talent and the genuine potential with her character’s story as an influencer struggling with work-life balance.
But all of this might still be largely forgivable if it weren’t for one massive overarching issue. The main romantic relationship between Lana and her ex, Will. Given that Lana is the mother of the bride and Will is the father of the groom, this relationship is awkward at best and the movie never acknowledges this.
There’s one throwaway joke at the beginning about Emma canceling the wedding if she finds out her and her fiance are half-siblings, but at no other point does the film acknowledge how weird and gross it is for Lana and Will to have a romantic relationship when their children are getting married.
This becomes especially frustrating when the movie pulls the “Main female lead starts falling for a different hunk whose honestly way better but doesn’t really love her the way the main male lead does” trope and you can’t help but find yourself screaming “Well at least it wouldn’t be incest if she got with the other guy!” at the screen. The whole thing casts an awkward and uncomfortable shadow that ultimately makes whatever merit the rest of the movie had into a moot point.
In Conclusion
Mother of the Bride is nowhere close to one of the worst films I’ve ever seen, nor is it the worst film I’ve seen this year or even the worst Netflix film I’ve seen this year. After all, I’d still rather watch this than sit through Rebel Moon: Part Two again. But it is definitely disappointing. This cast is talented, the cinematography is gorgeous, there’s some interesting ideas at play with the characters and the initial set-up, incestuous undertones aside, is not a bad one.
This could’ve been great. Or at the very least, a fun guilty pleasure watch. But instead it’s either boring or deeply uncomfortable. A potentially compelling concept squandered and doomed to be just another Netflix thumbnail that gets passed over while mindlessly scrolling the homepage. Hopefully, the talented duo of Brooke Shields and Miranda Cosgrove can be in a better movie next time.
5/10
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