Father of The Bride (1991 Film) - Plot

Plot

George Banks (Steve Martin) is an upper-middle-class owner of an athletic shoe company in San Marino, California, whose 22-year-old daughter, Annie (Kimberly Williams), returns from Europe, telling them she has decided to marry Bryan MacKenzie (George Newbern), a man from an upper-class family from Bel-Air, despite only knowing each other for three months. The sudden shock turns the warm reunion into a heated argument between George and Annie, but they quickly reconcile in time for Bryan to arrive and meet them. Despite Bryan's good financial status and likeable demeanour, George takes an immediate dislike to him while his wife, Nina (Diane Keaton), accepts the young man as a potential son-in-law.

George and Nina meet Bryan's parents, John and Joanna. Though George feels comfort from John also expressing how shocked he had initially been at Bryan's marriage plans, George quickly gets into trouble when he begins nosing around and eventually ends up falling into the pool when cornered by the MacKenzie's vicious pet Dobermans. All is forgotten, however, and the Banks meet with an eccentric European wedding designer, Franck Eggelhoffer (Martin Short) and his assistant, Howard Weinstein (B.D. Wong), where George immediately begins complaining about the price of the extravagant wedding items. The high price, $250 a head, plus the problems of wedding invitations and extensive remodelling of a room in the house begin to take their toll on George and he becomes slightly insane. The final straw occurs when George's small tuxedo, which he had struggled to put on, rips when he bends his back. George leaves the house to cool off, but ends up causing a disturbance at a supermarket. Fed up with paying for things he doesn't want, he starts removing hot dog buns from their 12-bun packets so as to match the 8-dog packets of sausages. He ends up arrested, but Nina arrives to bail him out on the condition that he stop ruining Annie's wedding.

With help from Nina and Franck, George becomes more relaxed and accepting of the wedding, particularly when Bryan and Annie receive rather expensive gifts from extended family members, but the wedding plans are put on hold when Bryan and Annie have a row over a blender Bryan gave to Annie as a gift, which only got worse when Annie refused to believe Bryan's story about George's antics at his house when he fell in the pool. George takes Bryan out for a drink, initially intending to get rid of him for good, but seeing Bryan's heartbroken face and genuine claim that he loves Annie, George has a change of heart and finally accepts Bryan. He confesses to Annie that what happened at Bryan's house was true, and Annie and Bryan reconcile.

Despite some last minute problems with the weather, the wedding is finally prepared, almost one year after Bryan and Annie's first meeting. Bryan and Annie marry and a party is held at the house, despite a nosy police officer objecting to the number of parked cars in their street. George, unfortunately, misses Annie throwing the bouquet and is unable to see his daughter before she and Bryan leave for their honeymoon. Annie, however, calls George from the airport to thank him and tell him that she loves him one last time before they board the plane.

With the house now empty and the wedding finished, George finds solace with Nina and dances with her.