New to Netflix from today is the romantic ‘comedy’, Mother of the Bride. Directed by Mark Waters, the movie stars Brooke Shields, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Sean Teale, Chad Michael Murray, Racheal Harris, Michael McDonald and Wilson Cruz, and follows the story of a mother who struggles to come to terms with her daughter’s imminent wedding, as well as the unexpected re-emergence of an old flame.
In the movie, Emma Winslow is a young, successful Instagrammer who is set to marry her boyfriend, RJ in a matter of days. After breaking the news to her mother, world-renowned geneticist Dr. Lana Winslow, the pair set off to Phuket for the wedding.
Shortly after arriving at their hotel, Lana is introduced to RJ and his family. It is here Lana discovers RJ’s father, Will, is an ex-boyfriend from her college days and the former love of her life.
If Emma’s speedy wedding wasn’t enough for Lana to have to deal with, then meeting up with Will certainly is. Seeing him for the first time in decades causes a rush of mixed emotions, which she has to navigate while coping with the idea they will soon be related.
Ugh.
I mean… just… uuuuggggghhh. I don’t even know where to start with this. Actually, I do.
Mother of the Bride is trash. It is easy-to-watch trash, and it’s certainly not going to offend anyone, but it is trash nonetheless.
The characters are bland, the direction is flat, and the whole thing is dull. The film does exactly what you expect it to do, when you expect it to do it, and it is complete and utter tosh.
There is no flare, no creativity, and no excitement. As romantic comedies go, it’s not very romantic and the comedy is practically nonexistent.
You may laugh once, you may laugh twice, but it’s doubtful you’ll laugh a third time. The script is also complete drivel, with a story which is simply preposterous.
In the film, Emma is supposedly a hit Instagrammer, with a great deal of success, despite the fact she doesn’t seem to post much online or ever open her phone. She does own a laptop though, so I guess that’s something, even if she doesn’t spend much time on Instagram.
Meanwhile, Lana is a top-notch geneticist whose main qualification is a white lab coat. As far as this film is concerned a white lab coat is practically the equivalent of a university degree, so that’s enough, right? Sure it is!
Plus, who needs to worry about social media Apps and genetics, when there’s an impromptu wedding in Thailand to focus on, which seems to be happening because the script says so. The wedding doesn’t appear to be the result of anyone being in love, because Emma and RJ have zero chemistry, so one can only presume the wedding is happening because the title of the movie is ‘Mother of the Bride’.
In fact, if the movie didn’t constantly tell audiences that Emma and RJ are getting married, it would be easy to overlook this plot point. Their marriage may play a huge part in the story, but there’s no real love here.
Then add to all this, there’s the plot contrivance that Lana used to date RJ’s dad, Will, but they split up and haven’t seen each other in years. This is despite the fact that both have become successful people (he has money, she owns a lab coat), and they would surely have bumped into each other at least once.
Oh, wait, no, of course they wouldn’t! Lana is too busy in a lab, Will is too busy with his money, Emma is too busy doing anything other than posting on Instagram, and RJ is… hang on, what does RJ do again?
Oh, who cares?! IT’S RUBBISH!
Almost everything in Mother of the Bride is crap. The script feels like it has been slung together using various clichés to pad things out, and the story is plodding and lacklustre.
On the plus side, Brooke Shields (Lana) and Benjamin Bratt (Will) are great, and they do their best with the dross they are given, but it honestly feels like they are the smoked salmon in a shit sandwich. Shields and Bratt deserve better than this, and so do you, and so do I.
Unless you have nothing else to do with your time (and I mean nothing else), then feel free to watch Mother of the Bride. But believe me, you won’t enjoy yourself and you’ll end up spending the majority of the movie doing something else, like scrolling through Instagram… which is more than Emma does in the film.
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