Initially concerned about his teenage daughter getting married at such a young age, a loving father gradually becomes more worried about the escalating cost of financing the wedding in this Spencer Tracy comedy. Opening with Tracy talking to the camera - and carrying on with him as narrator - the film benefits greatly from the charisma that Tracy brings to the role. There are some excellent early moments as he scoffs over who his daughter's potential suitor might be and as he ends up waxing poetic about his own marriage during a meeting in which he intended to grill his future son-in-law. The second half of the film is not as funny though as Tracy becomes less vexed over his daughter marrying the right man and more concerned with the cost of the wedding. The gags in this section are all fairly predictable (e.g. accidentally ripping his old suit) and Tracy himself is more sympathetic when playing an overprotective father rather than a penny-pinching killjoy. There is, however, a very well done surreal nightmare sequence in the second half, which is pretty much the highlight of the whole movie. 'The Catered Affair' - released six years later - is of interest as a more dramatic approach to the same basic idea. This earlier film is not half-bad, but the choice to play everything as a buoyant comedy causes 'Father of the Bride' to resonate less in the mind.
Review of Father of the Bride
