HBO Max’s remake ofFather of the Brideis the third time this particular story has been told. Each of the three versions of this film were released roughly 30 years apart and reflect the values of each of their eras. The first two iterations of this film (1950 and 1991) were cast with largely white Anglo-Saxon actors. All three films have one thing in common besides an uptight father and a blushing bride. They are all adapted from the 1949 novel of the same name by Edward Streeter. The 2022 version, however, takes this classic tale and puts a Cuban and Latino spin on the story, integrating the types of familial struggles inherent in Cuban and Mexican families, especially those in which the older generation immigrated to the United States.
The family at the center of 2022’sFather of the Brideis the Herrera family. Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan play Billy and Ingrid Herrera, the parents of Sofia and Cora (Adria Arjona and Isabela Merced). Diego Boneta plays Adan Castillo, Sofia’s Mexican fiancé. The premise of this third version ofFather of the Brideis the same as the first two: the father must come to terms with the fact that his little girl is all grown up and leaving the nest. This newest version puts an additional spin on the story.
1950 Father of the Bride
The firstFather of the Bridefilm came out in 1950 and starred Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor as Stanley Banks, a successful lawyer and father to Kay Banks, a 20-year-old bride-to-be. The mother, Ellie Banks, was played by Joan Bennett. The film was directed by the legendary Vincente Minnelli. This version of the film is a classic, but it also is very much of its era in that the values shown in the film are very 1950s mid-century American.
Taylor’s Kay is barely out of her teens and getting married, as people did 70 years ago. For a young woman of her standing, marriage is considered to be a pinnacle of success, especially for her parents. Stanley is uneasy about his daughter marrying until he talks to her fiancé Buckley and learns he is the owner of a small company and can provide for his daughter. This film displays very traditional values.
1991 Father of the Bride
The second version ofFather of the Bridecame out 31 years after the first film and doesn’t stray much from the storyline of the original.Steve Martin playedGeorge Banks, the owner of a successful athletic shoe company called Side Kicks in San Marino, California. Diane Keaton played his wife Nina Banks. The bride in this film is Annie, played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley in her film debut.
RELATED:Father of the Bride Remake Is HBO Max’s Biggest Straight to Streaming Movie Premiere
Annie is a 22-year-old college graduate who has just returned from a post-grad trip to Europe when she announces that she is engaged to Bryan MacKenzie (George Newbern), a young man she’s only known for three months. Bryan comes from a wealthy family and is good-natured but despite this George doesn’t like him. In the 1991 version ofFather of the Bride, the Boomer dad wouldn’t find anyone he thought was good enough for his GenX daughter.
2022 Father of the Bride
HBO Max’s 2022 version ofFather of the Bridefollows the same basic premise of the first two films with some notable exceptions. First, the family is Cuban. Second, the filmdoesn’t focus on the rich, like the wealthy white suburb of New York City like the 1950 version or in a very wealthy suburb of Los Angeles like the 1991 version. It is set in South Florida, and with that simple change, this version of the film is spicier, more colorful, and more vivid than its predecessors.
The first two films open with the father delivering a voiceover narration of their daughter’s wedding festivities. The 2022 version opens with Andy Garcia’s Billy Herrera sharing his story of moving from Cuba to Miami to give his family a better life. In the latest film, the bride is very modern. Sofia proposed to Adan, not the other way around. She is walked down the aisle by both parents, not “given away” by her father.
Family Ties in 2022’s Father of the Bride
In 2022’sFather of the Bride,the patriarch of the family is a successful architect. The matriarch is a former interior designer. The film deviates from the earlier versions in that Billy and Ingrid, the parents of the bride, are getting divorced. They hide this fact from their two daughters until after Sofia’s wedding. Billy and Ingrid’s relationship history is an integral part of the film and is revealed in flashbacks. The film also highlights the divide between theexperiences of the immigrantparents' generation and their U.S.-born children. Billy is a workaholic with traditional values more in line with the 1950 and 1991 versions of this story. He’s out of step with modern times. Ingrid is fed up with him.
RELATED:Father of the Bride Reboot: Why Andy Garcia Will Be The Perfect Uptight Dad
A Very Modern Bride
Sofia Herrera is an attorney living and working in New York City. She goes to Miami to visit her family and announces her engagement to Mexican attorney Adan Castillo while at dinner. Her family is shocked to find out she proposed to him and is even more shocked when she reveals she and Adan are leaving their law firm jobs in Manhattan to move to Mexico and work at a non-profit. Billy is apoplectic at this news and worries that he will have to support his daughter and her husband, until he learns that Adan’s father is a millionaire owner of a soccer team who has a super yacht.
Billy wants to have a big, expensive wedding at the Biltmore Hotel. Sofia and Adan want a smaller, more intimate party with a few friends and a DJ. They also want to pay for the wedding themselves, something Billy does not approve of.
