Mother of the Bride – An Undemanding Yet Forgettable Romcom

After a year abroad in London, Emma (Cosgrove) returns home and shocks her mother Lana (Shields) with the news that she’s getting married in a month at a resort in Thailand to RJ (Sean Teale). Things only get worse after Lana arrives and discovers that RJ is the son of Will (Bratt), the man who broke her heart years earlier. Anyone can probably figure out if Mother of the Bride is going to be their type of movie just by reading that very brief synopsis alone because what they see is exactly what they get, and absolutely nothing more. It may be a completely harmless and inoffensive watch, but it is also yet another completely disposable, run-of-the-mill lifeless romcom that most audiences will forget the instant the credits roll like a lot of recent Netflix originals.

While not a total failure by any means, as a romcom, it hardly works and leaves a lot to be desired. Meanwhile, its comedy falls completely flat and is rarely ever funny despite its many desperate attempts to be and features a cast full of very funny people who are saddled with weak material. The characters (with the exception of Cosgrove’s Emma) don’t behave or act like real human beings, making it difficult to get attached to them or care about their struggles as the story goes on and their situations become even more heightened and far fetched. Though none of the characters ever quite reach the level of annoying or unbearable, there are a few who linger right around there.

There’s nothing wrong with a romcom being a little predictable, in fact most of the best ones are, but this doesn’t even try when it comes to how predictable, generic, and lazy its storytelling is. Audiences can see every single plot beat coming from a mile away and it doesn’t even bother to insert any sort of conflict or speed bump that can’t be resolved or overcome in a matter of seconds. As far as romcoms go, this one is about as plain as they get and as much as they try, its cast fails to elevate it, especially poor Cosgrove who delivers the best performance as the most likeable character albeit one that got constantly sidelined despite the role the film’s premise would suggest. The film simply feels like it is copying off a lot of better, more successful films with to little effect.

Ultimately, what keeps the film from getting a more scathing review is its harmless nature and that it had the decency to only be roughly 90-minutes. While its cast have all been better before, they are still likeable enough here to make it a little more bearable than it would have been otherwise. Also, it’s nice to see Brooke Shields and Benjamin Bratt in leads roles in 2024. The pair share some solid chemistry which made Lana and Will a bit more appealing than what’s on the page. As mentioned, Cosgrove easily gives the best performance as a character who should have been the central focus. Hopefully, she gets cast in another romcom as she showed here that she has the chops for the genre and makes for a cute pair with Teale’s RJ despite neither getting as much to do as their more experienced co-stars.

At the end of the day, Mother of the Bride is a film only worth recommending for the least demanding romcom fans but otherwise, it is something one you can safely avoid as they won’t be missing much at all. Outside of a likeable enough cast and its breezy length, there isn’t a single thing about this one that will stick with audiences for more than a couple minutes after finishing it.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/