Netflix reunited the cast of Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part II for a sort-of sequel, appropriately titled Father of the Bride Part 3-ish, that featured some pretty unexpected cameos. Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Martin Short, Kieran Culkin, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and George Newbern all reprised their roles from the original two films for the special, which was written and directed by Nancy Meyers and livestreamed (prerecorded) by Netflix earlier today to raise money for World Central Kitchen. In addition to the original cast, Florence Pugh and Ben Platt appeared as adult Megan and Georgie (the two babies from the end of Part II). But the biggest shock comes three-quarters of the way through when Robert De Niro suddenly appears and everyone acts like it’s totally normal.
If you’re a fan of the Father of the Bride movies, you’ll probably enjoy this 30-minute special, which follows the Banks family getting together for a Zoom call in the midst of the pandemic. George (Martin) is still his worrying self, fretting over how many times he’s washed his hands and making sure the kids all still have plenty of masks and gloves (it’s revealed he sent them all thousands of supplies, because of course he did). Megan and Georgie are all grown up, Matt (Culkin) is a television writer, and Annie (Willaims-Paisley) and Bryan (Newbern) are still happily married. During the call, Matt reveals to the family that he intends to ask his fiance Rachel (Alexandra Shipp) to have their wedding immediately over Zoom than continue to postpone the ceremony until after the pandemic. There’s a fun bit where George objects to the idea of having a virtual wedding because he was looking forward to finally attending a wedding that he didn’t have to pay for, and then we get to meet Rachel’s father James, who is Robert goddamned De Niro. He just pops up in the middle of a Father of the Bride sequel and I nearly fell out of my chair. Martin Short returns as Franck to officiate the wedding, and then Georgie plays “The Way You Look Tonight,” because you’re not going to have Ben Platt in your movie and not have him sing.
It’s all very sweet and a bit corny, which is completely in line with the original films. You can check out the special below.
