The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 270 Days to go: 264
Movie #107: Father of the Bride Part II
I once had a heated argument with someone over the timeline of this movie. He thought Steve Martin’s line (as patriarch George Banks) about things starting “nine months ago” was a flub, since the movie actually ends two months after the birth of the babies (19-year-old spoiler: There is more than one baby.). He was wrong, of course. When George says “nine months ago,” he’s referring to the day Annie (Kimberly Williams, still pre-Paisley) and Bryan (George Newbern) come over to announce their pregnancy. And even if your parents are the first ones you tell (which, sure), and you let them know the very same day you find out (possibly, but not always), you don’t find out you’re pregnant the very day that it happens. I’d say 8 or so weeks along is well within reason. (I mean, technically a woman is already about 4 weeks along the first moment she could possibly realize her cycle is late, so.) Therefore the movie takes place during the nine months stemming from two months after Annie’s conception to two months after the births. I’m not even sure he would still argue with me about this, but I’m right, dammit, and I will defend my position to the death. Never let it be said I’m not passionate about stupid, meaningless things.
Nina (Diane Keaton) is still the calming, reasonable center, though I confess I don’t like her hair nearly as much in this one. And Franck (Martin Short) is still around, throwing baby showers and constructing a baby suite, and — best of all — leading some low impact aerobic sessions with a couple of very pregnant ladies. Even Matty (Kieran Culkin) is still around, providing wry yet kid-like observations to the proceedings. But my favorite character in Father of the Bride Part II is new to this universe. It’s Dr. Megan Eisenberg (Jane Adams).
Dr. Megan is perfect. She’s composed, competent and completely self-assured. She is sensitive and caring with the entire Banks family as they are about to welcome two new bundles of joy, but at the same time she is a controlled and experienced doctor. She knows exactly what she’s doing and her bedside manner is such that you have absolute faith in her. It’s kind of meant to be a joke, how George is all sorts of freaking out and how Dr. Megan centers him before he plays it off to everyone else like he’s been the rational one all along. But in actuality, Dr. Megan is just a really great character and a positive role model for women. There’s none of the foolishness of, say, Robin Williams in Nine Months and none of the stereotypical delivery room hijinks with women screaming “GIVE ME THE DRUGS,” or “YOU DID THIS TO ME.” It’s a tense moment and a serious milestone in this family’s life, and Dr. Megan gives it the gravity, as well as the joy, that it deserves. The fact that she becomes the namesake of new baby Banks is just the cherry on top of a delightfully perfect sundae.
The other stuff with the hair and the selling of the house is little more than a bunch of silliness, but I forgive it because the characters as a whole feel a lot more settled and comfortable in their roles here. It’s almost as if they really are all a family that has grown together into this life since the wedding four years ago. (Four years between release dates, but maybe only three in movie time.) Annie and Bryan are older and more like a married couple than a couple of kids getting hitched. Nina is embracing middle-age. Matty is maturing in his own right. And George has a bit of a mid-life crisis. It’s like they never gave up the characters at all and have been living their lives (the characters’ lives) in between films. It’s one of the few sequels that really pulls that off well, and I find myself drawn to the comfortability of that portrayal. In a way, it’s like coming home for me as well.
Now if I could only get my hands on some Vatsnik, I might actually sleep as well as Franck.
Viable Option 