Just as the original Spencer Tracy Father Of The Bride had its sequel - involving pregnancy - so, QED, the 1991 Steve Martin sleeper hit remake gets its follow up. Unfortunately, although this Part II improves on its lacklustre prequel, the only audience who will find anything approaching a warm glow are those for whom Andrex puppies cause a moistening of the eye.
The main problem here is that the filmmakers seem to have decided that the way to thwart critics ready with a "sentimental" tag is to go for broke, and overdose on dappled sunlight and Ideal Home sets. We pick up with the syrupy Banks family a year after the original's wedding of daughter Annie (Williams) to her sweetheart. Clan patriarch George (Martin) is a happy man: he loves his wife Nina (Keaton); his daughter's marriage is moving along nicely; and he is practically at the parenting finishing post. What could possibly go wrong?
Babies. When Annie and spouse announce an imminent new arrival, George dyes his hair in protest at the terrible implications of becoming a grandfather and promptly indulges in a spot of unprotected sex with his wife on the kitchen floor. And before you know it we are anticipating two happy events, along with the hideous assistance of Martin Short's camp routine.
Despite the fact the closest we get to social realism is when sprinklers have to be used on a front lawn trampled by plant hire equipment, if you're feeling generous you might admire this for its harmless audacity: only Tinseltown would package mother-and-daughter-get-pregant-at-the-same-time - happily minus the potential health complications of a very late pregnancy - as a trouble-free swirl of home sweet home. Even Capra would have puked.
