The cast of Father of the Bride virtually reunited to perform a third instalment in the comedy franchise.
Nearly 30 years after the original movie was released in 1991, Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Kieran Culkin, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, George Newbern and Martin Short reprised their roles in a new story titled Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish).
With Nancy Meyers writing and directing once more, the 26-minute film was broadcast on Netflix’s YouTube channel and was set amid the pandemic, with the now adult Matty (Culkin) calling his family together to announce his surprise wedding to doctor girlfriend Rachel (Alexandra Shipp) over Zoom.
As family patriarch George – who was now seen to be obsessed with mask wearing and disinfecting – Martin reacted in shock, saying that he had been “looking forward to being father of the groom at a big wedding I didn’t have to pay for”.
The cast were joined by a number of newcomers, including Ben Platt and Florence Pugh as Georgie and Megan, who were only babies in 1995’s Father of the Bride Part II, as well as a surprise appearance from Robert De Niro as Rachel’s father.
“Honey, I wish I could have walked you down the aisle,” De Niro said, with his daughter responding: “I know, Dad, but this is safer for everyone.”
Montages of the original films played throughout the Zoom call, with Martin narrating: “We parents never fully see our children as grown-ups. We look at them and can still see the little kid they used to be.
“The memories of all those moments we shared stay with us. Not just the big ones, the ones we all have photos of, but the little ones. It’s especially those memories, the ones you’d think you’d forget over time that we treasure the most.”
The virtual event was a fundraiser for World Central Kitchen, a charity which provides fresh meals to families in need in the US.
