Movies About Weddings
Getting Married is a Popular Subject for Romantic Comedies
"Made of Honor" is the latest movie to portray the comic and tragic elements surrounding the wedding ceremony.
Reluctant grooms, over-eager brides, and emotionally distraught families have long been a dominant theme in romantic comedies. June Bride (1948) and Father of the Bride (1950) are among the best classic wedding films. More recent releases, including Made of Honor in which a man realizes that his platonic best friend should be marrying him instead of her fiancé, continue the tradition of depicting the emotional roller coasters and logistical nightmares associated with weddings.
Reluctant Grooms
The Heartbreak Kid (2007) – An immature man (Ben Stiller) is reluctant to wed until he meets the perfect woman (Malin Akerman), who immediately turns into the wrong woman upon getting married to him, which in turn makes the man reluctant again.
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) – A handsome British bachelor (Hugh Grant) attends weddings of his friends and family, but steers clear of marriage for himself until he falls for an elusive American woman in a big hat (Andie MacDowell) who remains constantly out of his reach.
The Wedding Planner (2001) – A bored fiancé (Matthew McConaughey) falls in love with the lonely wedding planner (Jennifer Lopez) who is organizing his wedding, but finds that he might be as reluctant to begin a new romance, as he is to pursue his former wedding plans.
Over-eager Brides
My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) – An aggressive, self-centered restaurant critic (Julia Roberts) decides to break up the wedding plans of her male best friend (Dermot Mulroney) to the perfect woman (Cameron Diaz) so she can have him for herself.
The Wedding Singer (1997) – A jilted wedding singer (Adam Sandler) and a desperate-to-get-married friend (Drew Barrymore) discover they might have more in common with each other than they do with their intended mates in this very funny romantic comedy set in the 1980s.
Emotionally Distraught Families
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) - A Greek woman is pressured by her family to find a (Greek) husband immediately, but instead falls in love with an American man (John Corbett).
License to Wed (2007) – A perfectly suited couple (John Krasinski and Mandy Moore) finds their wedding plans going awry because of an unscrupulous minister (Robin Williams), a disillusioned divorced sister (Christine Taylor), and the bride-to-be’s unsupportive parents.
Sixteen Candles (1984) – In this hilarious teenaged comedy, an awkward girl (Molly Ringwald) crushing over a handsome high school student (Michael Schoeffling) finds that her sixteenth birthday is nearly forgotten in the chaos surrounding her older sister’s wedding.
To learn more about weddings in the movies, watch Moonstruck (1987), a film that features a reluctant groom (Danny Aiello), an over-eager bride (Cher), and emotionally distraught families in a delightful romantic comedy about love and luck. For more wedding fun, watch 27 Dresses, Runaway Bride, and Just Married.
