The episode states that Roger Ebert gave the film three stars.
The panel had hoped for three and a half stars but accepts the three-star score.
Ebert is reported to have praised the film's smiles, laughter, and good feeling throughout.
The panel agrees with Ebert's favorable assessment.

Casting What-Ifs

Steve Martin was attached before the screenplay; Phoebe Cates was offered Annie, and Disney initially resisted Diane Keaton after The Good Mother.

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:56:36Read transcript

Steve Martin was cast before the screenplay was written.
Phoebe Cates was offered Annie Banks but was pregnant.
The panel imagines that Cates could have competed for some roles later associated with Demi Moore.
The actor eventually cast as the mother said Disney did not want her after The Good Mother failed.
The filmmakers reportedly had to press Disney to cast her.

Recasting Couch

The panel proposes 1991-era George Clooney as Brian, arguing that his boyish charisma would make the son-in-law more plausible and threatening.

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:01:56Read transcript

George Clooney is proposed as a 1991 replacement for Brian.
The idea uses Clooney's youthful Facts of Life image rather than his later leading-man persona.
Clooney's charisma could explain how Brian met Annie in Italy and quickly won her over.
A more threatening Brian would intensify George's suspicion without necessarily stealing focus from the family story.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Research covers an actor shared by the 1950 and 1991 films, Spencer Tracy's Oscar nomination, Martin Short's wedding-planner model, celebrity weddings, and the two production houses.

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:02:51Read transcript

Tom Irish is reported to have debuted in the 1950 Father of the Bride and ended his film career in this remake while playing Ben Banks in both.
Spencer Tracy was nominated for Best Actor for the original film and lost to the transcript-observed 'Jose Farrar' for Cyrano de Bergerac.
Martin Short's wedding planner was based on Kevin Lee, who later appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Kevin Lee reportedly helped with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's wedding.
The house used for interiors and the reception sold for about 1.998 million dollars in August 2016.
The Pasadena exterior house reportedly sold for about 950,000 dollars in 1999 and attracts visitors.

The panel challenges the missing formal dances, guest logistics, Annie's silence from Italy, the in-laws' costs, the missing rehearsal dinner, honeymoon timing, sibling age gap, impossible snow, and the crowded reception.

In the discussion (15)

Approx. transcript time · 01:06:57Read transcript

The wedding omits a father-daughter dance and a dedicated first dance despite an elaborate planner and photo schedule.
The panel separately criticizes the expansion of wedding speeches beyond the best man, maid of honor, and a brief parent toast.
Inviting the wedding planner as a guest makes little sense because he is working at the event.
Invitation responses arriving neatly together ignores the real need to chase missing replies.
The original five-hundred-person list is implausibly large, while the family treats George's 150-person limit as unreasonable.
The bride's family paying international flights for Copenhagen guests is questioned.
Annie never telling her close parents about Brian during three months in Italy is considered implausible.
The wealthy in-laws would probably offer to share wedding costs rather than leave George to pay everything.
The missing rehearsal dinner wastes both a realistic event and a scene where the groom's family could host.
The missing Sunday breakfast after the wedding is a separate complaint.
Leaving for a honeymoon during the reception does not match likely Los Angeles-to-Hawaii flight timing.
The fourteen-year gap between Annie and Matty is unusually large without siblings between them.
Two inches of snow in Los Angeles would be implausible and would disrupt the wedding rather than vanish cleanly.
Melted snow and roughly two hundred guests would make the yard, parking, bathrooms, and tent far more difficult than shown.
Despite the logistics, the wedding's visual design remains tasteful rather than tacky.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

The panel estimates a sixty-to-ninety-thousand-dollar wedding, prefers Grandfather of the Bride as a sequel title, chooses this as Steve Martin's best movie, and debates whether Annie was a good daughter.

In the discussion (10)

Approx. transcript time · 01:20:09Read transcript

An online estimate placing the wedding above two hundred thousand dollars is rejected as too high.
The participants settle on roughly $60,000 to $90,000 in 1991.
Grandfather of the Bride is preferred over Father of the Bride 3 for a continuation title.
Father of the Bride is chosen as Steve Martin's best movie and sentimental favorite.
The Jerk, Roxanne, Parenthood, Bowfinger, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels are considered alternatives.
The panel asks whether Annie was a good daughter after returning engaged without warning, forcing George to solve the blender fight, and failing to say goodbye in person.
One answer is that Annie is inexperienced at twenty-two rather than a bad person.
The opposing answer calls her a bad daughter and insists that she should find and hug both parents before leaving.
An alternate ending has her get back out of the car, run across all the cars, and give George a hug.
The proposed ending is compared with The Graduate and My Best Friend's Wedding.