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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1980s
    Movies - 1980s Movies - B 2 Mins Read

    Betsy’s Wedding (1989)

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    In Betsy’s Wedding, Eddie Hopper (Alan Alda) shows off and gives daughter Betsy (Molly Ringwald) a fabulous formal wedding. What happens next is every bride’s nightmare.

    This is not a new idea. It was done before (and better) in the Spencer Tracy/Elizabeth Taylor classic, Father of The Bride, from which writer-director-star Alda steals whole scenes shamelessly.

    But the idea still works and by the time the big evening arrives, the Jewish side of the family screams, “it’s escalating – like the arms race!”  while the Italian side of the family is up to their ears in debt and the mob.

    Mother Lola (hilarious Madeline Kahn) wants a rabbi, Pop wants a priest, Betsy’s parents are losing their house, her older sister Connie (Ally Sheedy) is in love with a gangster, the wedding lands on the rainiest day of the year and the tent leaks!

    It’s silly, but never dull, and the ethnic differences make for a lot of humour about religion.

    Alda’s script is crisp, his pacing lively, and the actors all play it for real instead of for guffaws, which makes everything twice as amusing.

    Eddie Hopper
    Alan Alda
    Mr Hopper
    Joey Bishop
    Lola Hopper
    Madeline Kahn
    Betsy Hopper
    Molly Ringwald
    Stevie Dee
    Anthony LaPaglia
    Gloria Henner
    Catherine O’Hara
    Oscar Henner
    Joe Pesci
    Connie Hopper
    Ally Sheedy
    Georgie
    Burt Young
    Grandma
    Julie Bovasso
    Harry Lovell
    Nicolas Coster
    Nancy Lovell
    Bibi Besch
    Jake Lovell
    Dylan Walsh
    Angelica
    Camille Saviola
    Nate Tobias
    Allan Rich

    Director
    Alan Alda

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