With beloved ‘90s rom-com Father Of The Bride finally receiving the reboot treatment in 2022, fans feeling nostalgic for the original — which stars Steve Martin and Diane Keaton as the parents of Kimberly Williams’ character Annie — have noticed that there’s something quite strange going on with the way ageing is represented in the film. Clad in dowdy, beige clothing, and festooned in strings of pearls, Annie’s parents may be styled like caricatured retirees, but it turns out the characters are supposed to be 45 years old in the film.
On Twitter, filmmaker and writer Jessica Ellis pointed out the characters’ true ages in the film, alongside a picture of the couple from the film’s 1995 sequel. “An unbelievable thing that has changed in 30 years is that in 1995, this was supposed to be what 45 year-olds looked like,” Ellis wrote. Afterwards, scores of people weighed in on the topic of how much has changed since then when it comes to ageing on screen.
The discussion also led to film fans stumbling across other classics, pointing out all of the women at the centre of U.S sitcom The Golden Girls are supposed to be in their mid-50s. When she made an iconic cameo in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Cher was 72, but her incredibly autobiographical character is meant to be the mother of Meryl Streep (who is three years younger). And don’t even get us started on Derry Girls, and the crushing revelation that Mary Quinn, Aunt Sarah, and Geraldine Devlin are all supposed to be in their late 30s and early 40s.
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