Betsy's Wedding

The genre's brat pack movie and Alan Alda movie don't really go together. But that didn't stop Alda from writing, directing, and starring alongside Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy in 1989's Betsy's Wedding.

Alda's directorial career in features started promising with the great movie The Four Seasons. But as his filmmaking career went along with movies like Sweet Liberty and A New Life, his end result beame more and more diminshing. To give his middle age prose a hip edge, Alda hired on Sheedy and Ringwald. I guess he didn't realize that it was 1989 and the brat pack fad had already came and left by this time.

Alda stars as Eddie Hopper, a construction worker who is under a lot of pressure. He is trying to complete his dream home and pay for his daughter Betsy's, Ringwald, dream wedding. I think the real pressure must be that he is a construction worker. Only in an Alda movie would Alda be cast as a construction worker. I mean, really, shouldn't he be an accountant or something? But I digrace.

Anyway, he turns to his shady brother in law Oscar, Joe Pesci, for financial help. This turns out to be more than Eddie bargained for when Oscar gets him involved with Georgie, Burt Young, a loan shark. Georgie doesn't totally trust Eddie, so he has his nephew Stevie Dee, Anthony Lapaglia, tail him. But Eddie's oldest daughter Connie, Sheedy, becomes a distraction for Stevie when he begins to develop feelings for her. And she happens to be a cop. Eddie just hopes that he can pull everything off before he gets in too deep.

This movie is a pretty awful knock off of The Father Of The Bride, with one exception. The side story involving LaPaglia and Sheedy is actually pretty sweet and charming. I wish the whole movie was about them. The relationship between Ringwald and her fiancee, Dylan Walsh, is totally unbelievable.

LaPaglia is the real scene stealer in this as the mafiaso with his heart on his sleeve. As I stated earlier, Alda is totally miscat. And the rest of the players really don't have much to do. The talented Madeline Khan and Catherine O'Hara are sorely underused as the wives of Alda and Pesci. Alda even has Joey Bishop pop up here and there as his dead uncle who gives him advice. A bizarre plot point that doesn't work at all.

I can't really recommend this movie, but if you do decide to watch it, just fast forward to the LaPaglia and Sheedy scenes.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.