Mark Waters’ Mother of the Bride is just one of the movies that’s turning Netflix into the Hallmark Network. There are a few things about it though that point to Waters’ perspective as a person who makes films. But as I do, let’s talk plot first, one that centres on the titular character, Dr. Lana Winslow (Brooke Shields). She goes on her daughter Emma’s (Mranda Cosgrove) vacation wedding, and her anxieties about this hasty wedding gets worse. As it turns out, Emma is marrying Richard or RJ (Sean Teale), the son of Will (Benjamin Bratt), who broke her heart. Apparently Emma and Will know each other without that backstory and Will is happy for the young couple.

The movie has someone trying to take Lana’s mind off of Will, and that someone is a hot doctor, Lucas. Chad Michael Murray plays Lucas who, despite being close to Emma’s age, is more than wise. Mother of the Bride then becomes about a love triangle among Lana, Will, and Lucas. As Lucas waxes on about love and how it’s never too late for it, Will also pleads his case. But of course, movies are never about normal people, so Lana reinforces her belief that Will is still shady. So even at Emma’s wedding, she has to comfort Lana, which, fairly, narcissism happens to the best of us.

Mother of the Bride exists to have Brooke Shields star in an Adam Sandler movie with a vacation destination. It also does this thing where movies put two older actors together and evince history by just giving looks. To express three decades of heartbreak looking out on a beach is better than doing it on concrete. But viewers may see better versions of this in the seventh Star Wars movie though so this just pales in comparison. Also, Will drives Lana out to the lookout, promising to drive her back for Emma’s influencer designer fitting. Of course, he doesn’t, as fictional characters creating problems for themselves are similar to real people doing the same.

Some of the casting choices in Mother of the Bride work even in opposition but some, of course, don’t. Chad Michael Murray is perfect as a fling even if he looks more like a staycationer than a doctor. I’m more iffy about Miranda Cosgrove though, who at least plays a good daughter and banters well with Brooke Shields. I don’t, however, buy her as a borderline bridezilla influencer who lets a parent company bulldoze her wedding. This is very Mark Waters in that it’s a film in the perspective of an older generation watching the young. But it’s coming off as anti millennial propaganda that Netflix churns out and that feels a few years late.

Watch Mother of the Bride on Netflix.