Wedding Daze (2004) starring John Larroquette, Karen Valentine, French Stewart, Marina Black, Kelly Overton, Jaime Ray Newman, Sebastian Tillinger, James Waterston, Justin Baldoni directed by Georg Stanford Brown Movie Review

Wedding Daze (2004)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Karen Valentine and John Larroquette in Wedding Daze (2004)

Father of the Bride, The Bride, The Bride

I've never seen "All My Darling Daughters" but with a storyline which sees a judge having to deal with his 4 daughters all getting married on the same day it could have been the inspiration for "Wedding Daze" as here we have a father dealing with 3 daughters who are getting married on the same day. But whether or not "Wedding Daze" was inspired by "All My Darling Daughters" one thing is for sure it is certainly inspired in style by Steve Martin's "Father of the Bride". The look, the humour, the narration from John Larroquette as the father as he deals with the expense, stress and a wedding planner all feel like it is imitating "Father of the Bride". And whilst that does make "Wedding Daze" feel a little like a copy cat movie it doesn't mean it is any less entertaining with some simple, often obvious humour and an abundance of sentimentality bringing smiles to your face.

As the years have passed Jack Landry (John Larroquette - Stripes) has watched his 3 daughters grow and in some cases leave home, Nora (Marina Black) became a top model, Teri (Jaime Ray Newman) a business woman and whilst Dahlia (Kelly Overton) is still at home she is independent. So with them pretty much all gone Jack and his wife Audrey (Karen Valentine) are planning an around the world holiday, well that is until all their daughters end up back home again and each planning to get married on the same day. With 3 weddings, 3 Brides, 1 huge reception and a wedding planner to deal with Jack has to dig deep and cancel that holiday to give his girls the day they dreamed of.

Sebastian Tillinger and Kelly Overton in Wedding Daze (2004)

So as already mentioned "Wedding Daze" does feel like it is an imitation of "Father of the Bride" with the only real difference being 3 daughters getting married instead of one. And as such we have elements of Jack Landry struggling with the idea of his little girls being women, trying to put off their perspective husbands, dealing with the financial stress as well as a quirky wedding planner. But whilst "Wedding Daze" ends up feeling like "Father of the Bride" in triplicate it is still entertaining and does put a smile on your face because it is such a fun storyline even if it is over the top.

It's sort of amusing that alongside the storyline being incredibly similar to "Father of the Bride" the humour is also very similar. In fact you could go as far as saying that John Larroquette basically gives us his version of Steve Martin and so we have a bit of slapstick when he gets locked out of the wedding reception and has to climb down from a balcony. We also get him delivering those little looks, the sideways stare, the look of fear and exasperation as well as a narration which sounds like it has just come out of "Father of the Bride" as we listen to him recalling moments in his daughters lives.

What is very obvious is that whilst we have the three Landry daughters, their suitors as well as Jack's wife Audrey "Wedding Daze" is basically built around John Larroquette and his character. It is Larroquette who we follow, who we listen to and who we laugh at and that means whilst you have the beautiful trio of Kelly Overton, Jaime Ray Newman and Marina Black plus the humour of Sebastian Tillinger they are all over shadowed by a nice comedy performance from Larroquette.

What this all boils down to is that "Wedding Daze" does feel like a knock off version of "Father of the Bride" with its similarity in style, humour and story with the only difference being that we have 3 daughters instead of 1. But then it is still good fun and puts a huge smile on your face especially John Larroquette who may come across as trying to be Steve Martin but he makes it work.


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