MovieChat Forums > Father of the Bride (1991) Discussion > Steve Martin's sad decline into mediocri...

Steve Martin's sad decline into mediocrity started here


Not all of his films pre-'Father of the Bride' were classics ('My Blue Heaven' being a prime example) but this was the one that really started his sad and on-going descent into middle-brow, upper-middle-class 'family/lifestyle' comedies. Prior to this utterly bland affair about the woes of being a very rich white family man and professional feeling pressured into giving his daughter the biggest wedding possible because her fiancé's family are even more hideously wealthy, Martin was more or less on a roll.

He started his film career doing 'wild and crazy' wacky comedies with Carl Reiner like 'The Jerk', 'The Man with Two Brains' and 'All of Me', and then moved on to more sophisticated character and verbal interplay comedies and comedy-dramas like the wonderful 'Roxanne', 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels', 'Parenthood', 'Little Shop of Horrors', 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' and even the underrated (and not as stupid as everyone says) 'The Three Amigos'. 'My Blue Heaven' was an unfortunate misstep, but at least it was a then fairly original idea which had the potential to be better. However, Martin did bounce back with 'LA Story' which harked back in part to his 'wild and crazy' late 70s/early 80s days...

...and then this. Sadly ever since I can count the number of half-decent Martin films on one hand (and apart from 'Bowfinger', his prematurely announced 'return to form', all of them are dramas).

Damn Charles Shyer and Nancy Myers and their middle-brow, middle-class, middle-aged, out-of-touch, and utterly unfunny brand of lifestyle porn comedy.

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I think he's doing just fine...
Multimillionaire, top stand up comic, films, tv, novels...
I'm sure he's as happy as anyone can be, and fortunately does NOT give a shot what a morooooooooooooon like you think...

I sleep now.

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What's your problem, and where do you get off in calling people 'morons'?

For what it's worth I'm a huge fan of Steve Martin. All I'm saying is that he was at his best during the 1980s and has rarely ascended to those heights, at least as far as his film work goes, since. I'm certainly not berating him since I consider him to be far more talented than 99.99% of the people in the entertainment industry.

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OP, if you think My Blue Heaven isn't one of his better films, go back and watch it again. Give it another chance. It's truly underrated.

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The story takes place exactly 20 years after Father of the Bride Part II.
George and Nina's 20-year-old daughter Olivia is striving to become a world-famous mathematician. Olivia travels to an exotic French kingdom to have a studycation and volunteer teaching her formulas at a special orphan school.

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There, she helps an illiterate but very humble orphan prince with lessons and assignments. Along the way they make sparks and grow interest for each other. When she realizes she and the prince are in love, she announces the relationship to her parents in a video chat.
George can't believe he might certainly experience the same predicament he went through when Annie got married. He starts to dread at the thought of being a father of a royal bride.
The next day, the kingdom annouces the couple's engagement and what will be an extravagant and headache-inducing (at least for George) royal wedding.

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?Those are my plot ideas for Father of the Bride III (which will hopefully be better than his other recent movies).

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I disagree I like this, its sequel, and most of Steve Martin's movies. Probably the only one I didn't go see is Cheaper by the Dozen 2. I also really like A simple twist of fate which is most peoples' least favorite Steve Martin movie.

Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw

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I like Steve Martin in most of the Steve Martin films. Some have been clunkers but still he has prevailed despite the script....


This one... I am currently taking a break from actually watching it because even Steve is annoying me. He is doing his best at being George Banks but the movie is so incredibly dumb that he is bugging me. I am noticing his physical schtick and almost looking for the arrow to appear through his head. NOT "my" Steve Martin in this one.

I will finish watching it ! it may take a while but....

It's sad to see him in what is basically an incredibly unreal and stupid scenario that thinks it's being ultra-clever and outrageous. IMO, it is not and I wish someone else had been cast as George. Steve deserves better than this movie.

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