My husband and I went to see this at a preview screening in the Huddersfield Odeon yesterday morning and we weren't really sure what to expect. We knew it had some big names in it and that it was a comedy, but we went into it pretty open minded.
The premise to the movie is that a long-divorced couple fake being married as their family unites for a wedding. Robert De Niro (The Godfather, Goodfellas) plays Don, the ex-husband and Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, The Godfather) plays Ellie his ex-wife and Susan Sarandon (Thelma and Louise, Dead Man Walking) plays Bebe his wife's ex-best friend, who he had the affair with that ended his marriage and with whom he now lives. Ellie and Don's children also come back home for the wedding of their adopted son Alejandro (Ben Barnes of Dorian Gray and Prince Caspian) to Missy (Amanda Seyfried of Les Miserables, Mamma Mia).
Lawyer daughter Lyla played by Katherine Heigl (The Ugly Truth, Grey's Anatomy) has problems of her own with an estranged husband following failed attempts to conceive and paediatrician son Jared (Topher Grace of Spider-Man 3, Predators) has just decided to stop saving himself for true love. Alejandro's birth mother Madonna, played by Patricia Rae (Detachment, Swimfan) and his biological sister Nuria (Ana Ayora of Marley and Me, Meddling Mom) come over for the wedding and he realises that rather than risk upsetting his strict catholic mother, he must continue with his lie that Don and Ellie are still married. This scenario sets up a whole heap of fiascos with hilarious consequences.
For me, the film is stolen by the priest Father Moinighan, played by the inimitable Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting, Dead Poet's Society) and his deadpan interjections whilst all around him go to pot, makes the movie.
The plot is more than predictable, but the journey to the enivitable open ending (for future movies, I suspect) is well worth it for the laughs.
'Father of the Bride meets Meet the Fockers' 7/10
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