La guerre des pères

"Our Family Wedding" has some good actors and two great actors, Forest Whitaker and America Ferrera, but a horrible script. A young interracial couple travel back home to tell their families they're getting married and to plan a quick wedding. Their fathers, their cultures and their families clash. This is just rehashed material and no better than a poor man's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".

They were going for laughs, and although I did laugh-out-loud in a few scenes, most of the lines were just rude, and all of the characters, especially Whitaker's, were just being insubordinate. Every character had friction with one another and sometimes we weren't even privy to the reasons, so not only were we not laughing, we're frustrated as well.

The few laughs were not enough to overcome the frustration and many pointless scenes. Even if they were going for drama instead, there is no sense of drama just from watching characters act in horrible ways because the script tells them to. I can't really recommend "Our Family Wedding", only possibly to die-hard fans of the genre and fans of America Ferrera. This is a Ferrera we haven't seen before, mature and subdued, and she at least was nice to watch.

This movie was OK but the plot's been used many times before. Guy and girl come home to parents and announce they are getting married. Then both families have to get along as they plan the wedding. And of course either the dads or the moms don't get along. In this case, it's the dad that don't get along. It starts from the beginning as Lucia's dad, Miguel, whom tows trucks, picks up Marcus's dads, Brad, car to impound. Brad arrives in time but Miguel still tows the car. Then they have dinner with their kids that night and meet for the second time and find out they are to be in laws. So much quarreling ensues.

The best scene is when Migual and Brad go to this bar to find a dj and Miguel gets hammered on pink nipples. Of course, the kids have second thoughts but everything works out in the end.

FINAL VERDICT: Not very interesting. Skip it.

I just watch it and as a Mexican (born and raised in a small town out in the country and living on the city too) I can tell you this is not how we do weddings. It meant to be funny but is not

America Ferreira and Lance Gross tell their fathers - hers, Carlos Mencia, his Forest Whitaker - they want to get married. Now there's the problem of the wedding, with all the attendant problems of blending their Mexican and Black heritages.

It's a good version of the standard movie of the fighting and angst of every movie about the problems leading up to the wedding, with all of the incidents so common to this sort of film, with a lot of soul-searching and spats that attend such films. It's helped along by a fine cast, including Regina Kimg and Angela's Johnson-Reyes, but the majority of the focus is on the fathers.

If you enjoyed this movie, your favorite bits will vary, but my favorite scenes are those shared by Whitaker and Gross, who speak together as if they are father and son, lovingly and sincerely.

Bob

First of all,this was hardly the "worst film of the year" as one reviewer on this site wrote. THAT film was called "All About Steve." This one was in some ways a standard rom-com and yes,there were similarities to other films from "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" to "Meet the Fockers." But I find that all rom-coms have elements in common,so what's the big deal? The big deal is that this film involves a mixed race couple where neither one is white,in fact the girl is Mexican-American and the boy is African-American,both college educated and from families that are not poor. In fact the prospective groom's father has quite a bit of money,and the bride to be comes from a family that ,if not rich,is at least solidly middle class. I see why the critics,both professional and non,didn't "get it." None of the main characters is involved in gangs,drugs, or lives in the ghetto or the barrio. There are no men dressed in drag pretending to be grandmothers either . And there are no main characters that are white. No "best friend" no work buddy,no obnoxious boss. The plot involves people of color having to bridge a cultural divide. Are there clichéd moments? Sure. Were the fathers sometimes over the top in their dealings with one another? You betcha! Have we seen this in other films that didn't get nearly the lashing this one did? Certainly. I enjoyed this film because ,in spite of the normal conventions of its genre,it showed people of color as normal families dealing with a situation they may not like,but having to find a way to come together for the ones they love.