Director: Charles Shyer
George Banks: Steve Martin
Nina Banks: Diane Keaton
Annie Banks: Kimberly Williams
Matty Banks: Kieran Culkin
Bryan MacKenzie: George Newbern
Franck Eggelhoffer: Martin Short
Howard Weinstein: B.D. Wong

Mom, and all of you other purists reading this, you all should probably go to the next review. You have been warned.

Okay, we all know Steve Martin isn't Spencer Tracy. And to keep everything nice and friendly, I am not about to go on and debate the relative merits of the two actors. So read on at your own risk, and don't come crying to me later about how there is no other Father of the Bride but the original. You don't like it, get your own wedding movie review Web page.

Here's the thing. I like Steve Martin's work (Okay, okay. There was Bowfinger. But for the purpose of this objective review, I'm going to chalk that one up to the lingering effects of a bad burrito or something). Here's a comedian who went from being the wacky-over-the-top guy to a believable, sympathetic — dare I say it — sensitive guy. For an example of sympathetic sensitive guy type gone wrong, look no further than Robin Williams' cloying, nausea-inducing performances in films like Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come, Mrs. Doubtfire...you get the idea. And now I'm thinking about his latest project, Taxi Dog, in which a taxi driver's life is transformed by the company of a street mutt…ugh, I can't go on.

In contrast to all of that earnest sap, Steve never plays to the balcony. He keeps it to a reserved nostalgia, tempered with the sardonic/nonplussed p.o.v. of a guy who is being constantly reminded that he's not getting any younger. Yes, it's the father version of the husband-to-be in Housesitter, and of the romantic interest in Roxanne. But not one of these characters gets on my nerves.

As an added bonus, Diane Keaton doesn't have to do a whole lot of whining in this movie. What a novelty. She must have reveled in this role. Speaking of novelties, Diane and Steve must be close to the same age, which in Hollywood matchmaking circles — on or off screen — is as common as pork rind eating contests.

And all right, points lost for including a Culkin kid in the cast. But some points regained for not picking one who thinks that getting married at 17 is a spectacular idea. And did anyone notice what happened to Kimberly Williams? After getting plucked, all dewy and precious, off of some college campus to do this flick (Northwestern? Help me out here. I don't remember.) she whinged around the Relativity set for however long it was until the television gods wisely punished it for taking too damn long to committing to telling a story. And now Kimberly seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. Maybe there's only room for one precious dewy wide-eyed young thing on the scene and Keri Russell won the coin toss.

Martin Short plays himself in FotB. You like him, you get plenty of him here and it's all good.

Bottom line: Boy and girl meet and decide to marry, boy and girl marry, father gets bills and agita. Still the best argument for not holding any party in your home, this movie is entertaining and sweet and highly recommended. No matter what the purists say.