Back to trending
Father of the Bride

Father of the Bride

Comedy · Romance · Drama · 1950

Proud father Stanley Banks remembers the day his daughter, Kay, got married. Starting when she announces her engagement through to the wedding itself, we learn of all the surprises and disasters along the way.

Movie details

Father of the Bride

“You're invited... to a hilarious wedding!”

1950 Comedy · Romance · Drama 1h 32m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.1 / 10

13.4K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

90 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

76 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Proud father Stanley Banks remembers the day his daughter, Kay, got married. Starting when she announces her engagement through to the wedding itself, we learn of all the surprises and disasters along the way.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Father of the Bride?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Sitting in Bars with Cake

Sitting in Bars with Cake

Romance · 2023

Extrovert Corinne convinces Jane, a shy, talented baker, to commit to a year of bringing cakes to bars, to help her meet people and build confidence. But when Corinne receives a life-altering diagnosis, the pair faces a challenge unlike anything they've experienced before.

The Best You Can

The Best You Can

Comedy · 2025

Cynthia Rand is a buttoned-up New Yorker married to a brilliant professor 25 years her senior. She begins feeling the effects of her husband’s advancing age on their relationship, just as her world is turned upside down by the arrival of sharp but chronically underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski in this smart rom-com that reunites Bacon and Sedgwick on screen for the first time in 20 years.

Almost Friends

Almost Friends

Drama · 2017

A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.

For Keeps

For Keeps

Comedy · 1988

Young high school couple Darcy Elliot and Stan Bobrucz are one year from graduation, with promising futures ahead of them. But their paths take a drastic turn when Darcy becomes pregnant. Unwilling to go through an abortion or an adoption — despite their parents' pleas — Darcy and Stan decide to sacrifice their college experiences and degrees in order to keep and raise the baby. After a quick marriage, the two realize it won't be as easy as they thought.

ATL

ATL

Drama · 2006

As four friends prepare for life after high school, different challenges bring about turning points in each of their lives. The dramas unfold and resolve at their local rollerskating rink, Cascade.

Delirious

Delirious

Comedy · 2007

Les, a small-time celebrity photographer desperate to make it big, befriends Toby, a homeless young man with no direction except a vague desire to become an actor. When by chance, Toby becomes romantically involved with K'Harma Leeds, the hottest pop star of the moment, Les grows jealous and plots revenge.

Newness

Newness

Romance · 2017

In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.

Nothing Like the Holidays

Nothing Like the Holidays

Comedy · 2008

It’s Christmastime and the far-flung members of the Rodriguez family are converging at their parents’ home in Chicago to celebrate the season and rejoice in their youngest brother’s safe return from combat overseas.

Dirty Sexy Saint

Dirty Sexy Saint

Romance · 2019

Clay Kincaid hates the nickname 'Saint', he got for being too kind to stray animals and desperate people. Especially when it comes to women. With a rough and damaged past that has left him jaded, he doesn't do committed relationships. This is before he meets Samantha Jamieson, an heiress turned runaway in need of help. When she starts to work as a waitress at his bar, he discovers that she is someone truly special and amazing… someone that could warm his damaged heart.

How to Please a Woman

How to Please a Woman

Romance · 2022

When her all-male house-cleaning business gets out of control, a mature woman must embrace her own sexuality, if she is to make a new life for herself.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Vincente Minnelli

Written by

Frances Goodrich · Albert Hackett

Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy

Stanley T. Banks

Joan Bennett

Joan Bennett

Ellie Banks

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

Kay Banks

Don Taylor

Don Taylor

Buckley Dunstan

Billie Burke

Billie Burke

Doris Dunstan

Leo G. Carroll

Leo G. Carroll

Mr. Massoula

Moroni Olsen

Moroni Olsen

Herbert Dunstan

Court is in session

Put Father of the Bride on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.