The announcement that a cherished family member is getting married is often joyous and calls for a big celebration, with the acknowledgement of their decision to move into the next chapter of their life through committing to a long-term, legally binding relationship being one of the cornerstones of our society (whether one is agnostic to the idea of marriage as a whole, this point cannot ever be denied), and something that we have been conditioned to believe is one of the defining moments in someone’s life. There’s another moment that often emerges in the aftermath: the realisation that it is very likely that the family will be footing the bill in some way or another. This has often been the source of many a comedy based around wedding planning, which tends to build itself around the often Herculean task of putting together such an event, a process that is time-consuming and extremely expensive. Many of us are familiar with Father of the Bride, in which Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers adapt the novel by Edward Streeter (and which was also used as the foundation for the well-received Vincente Minnelli adaptation from nearly half a century before), but there’s another film from the same era that handles similar themes, albeit in a slightly different – and perhaps far more compelling – way, namely Betsy’s Wedding, a film written and directed by Alan Alda, who also plays the central role, a self-proclaimed family man whose happy-go-lucky demeanour and perpetual optimism means that he is frequently able to ignore whatever obstacles stand in his way. However, when his youngest daughter announces her intention to get married, he decides that he is going to ignore all the offers made by the groom’s family, and will instead pay for the entire wedding himself – a valiant move at first, but one that reveals itself to be quite foolish once he realises that he simply does not have the money to give his daughter the wedding of her dreams. A lovable and heartfelt comedy that is as charming as it is touching, Betsy’s Wedding is a delight, even when we cannot entirely ignore some of its more notable flaws.

Family – we can’t choose it, and we certainly can’t get rid of it entirely – and many films have been made that are primarily based on exploring the trials and tribulations of family members as they scramble to resolve some crisis while also dealing with interpersonal tensions, which are often more lighthearted and comedic, but can still hint at something deeper below the surface. In the case of Betsy’s Wedding, this is the primary propellant for the narrative – while the story is based around the process of planning the titular event, it’s less about the mechanics of putting a wedding together (which is not particularly interesting once we look beyond the more exciting elements that everyone usually associates with the process), and more about the people pulling the strings to make it happen, which can lend itself to a lot of charming comedy. Alda has often been interested in exploring cultural differences through the lens of familial connections, and this film takes a lot of inspiration from this idea – the family at the core of the film are a Jewish-Italian clan whose daughter is about to marry into the epitome of a WASP household, which are three distinct cultural archetypes that the director seamlessly weaves into the fabric of the narrative, focusing less on the stereotypes and more on more specific quirks that show that Alda is an unexpectedly brilliant social critic, someone who spent his lengthy and storied career observing the society around him and weaving this lovable anecdotes into a charming and very compelling examination of family, and how these differences between individuals can cause friction during highly stressful situations, such as planning a wedding that both honours the centuries of traditions, as well as being profoundly modern. These themes may not seem particularly revolutionary, and the film can be somewhat pedestrian at times, but this is all by design, with Alda’s efforts being to carve a tremendously captivating film about the long and winding journey towards a wedding, the core of the narrative, but by no means its only defining quality.

While he is a cherished icon of American stage and screen, somehow Alda still feels severely underrated as an actor – his decades of incredible work on television alone make him a cherished part of the industry and someone whose work transcends generations, yet he still feels somewhat taken for granted. A film like Betsy’s Wedding isn’t a particularly traditional vehicle for an actor to showcase their skills, but it is an opportunity for someone like Alda to make it very clear why we have been fawning over him for over half a century – his congenial personality intermingled with his easygoing nature and abundance of talent has rarely been more evident than in this film, in which he writes himself a delightfully charming role as an eternally positive family man who refuses to buckle under pressure, and even at the most intense of moments, he takes everything in his stride. It’s a very fun performance from an actor who is always delightful, but the film isn’t only restricted to Alda’s character – the entire cast is peppered with some of the most gifted actors of their generation, all of whom agree to take on these peculiar characters for the sake of the humour embedded right at the heart of this film. Amongst them are Madeline Kahn as the long-suffering wife of Alda’s character, Joe Pesci and Catherine O’Hara as his scheming brother-in-law and sister respectively, Anthony LaPaglia as a dimwitted mobster trying to become legitimate, and the always wonderful Joey Bishop in a small but unforgettable turn as Alda’s father, being perhaps the only person more profoundly likable that could have played such a role. Molly Ringwald seems to be making an earnest effort to graduate from playing the same kind of stock character in the form of the suburban young woman with a rebellious streak, but she does prove to be quite effective, even when the film seems far less interested in her, despite being the titular character. It’s a tremendous cast, and Alda really does bring out the very best in his actors at every opportunity.

There are many directions in which Alda could have taken Betsy’s Wedding – it’s a concept simple enough to lend itself to a range of different interpretations, from the overall tone to the smallest details, all of which could have easily been adjusted to fit particular ideas and the director’s intentions in terms of their execution. Ultimately, the film is quite a simple affair – a boisterous, broadly comedic family comedy in which the characters are all drawn from more obvious archetypes and developed in such a way that they are not aiming to be entirely realistic, but instead act as larger-than-life personalities that represent stock characters. The actors are skilled enough to make this approach work, which allows Alda the time and space to develop something much more engaging in terms of how the rest of the film unravels. This is primarily done through the execution – the film is holistically quite a straightforward comedy that is very much aware of what it is doing at any given point, aiming to be as entertaining as possible long before it falters and becomes nothing more than a one-dimensional attempt at family-based humour. The jokes are placed strategically, appearing where some levity is required and being adjusted to match the tempo of a given scene – there are very few moments where a heartfelt conversation is interrupted by some bawdy humour, or where more serious subjects are forced to co-exist with inappropriate jokes – but even at its most poignant, Alda is not afraid to infuse Betsy’s Wedding with layers of complexity, which often involves using the comedic nature of the film to examine the material, as well as a few instances where slightly more downbeat ideas do emerge. In these moments, the focus is on avoiding becoming too overwrought as much as possible, choosing instead to layer itself with sincerity more than it attempts to extract the most obvious response in the audience, which is as good a reason as any to look at this as a more meaningful achievement.

Betsy’s Wedding is a film that is much better than its reputation would suggest. It’s not viewed as some major misfire, but in an era where so many films were made about familial struggles, culture clash, and the challenges of existing in a time when such significant change was occurring, it would be difficult for any film to stand out, especially one that adheres so closely to conventions; it can be mistaken for being too safe and one-dimensional at the best of times. As a whole, Alda made a very charming and well-crafted comedy that boasts a truly impressive cast (all of whom are doing wonderful work), a tremendously engaging approach to the various ideas that flow throughout, and generally a wonderfully upbeat narrative that offers us a lot more than we would expect based on a cursory glance. There aren’t many ideas that are entirely new to this film, and some may even suggest that it is just an attempt to cash in on the success of Father of the Bride, despite this film predating the remake that has lingered heavily in the public consciousness for over thirty years (and while it may be an unpopular opinion, I do personally lean towards this film being the better of the two, as far as the subject matter is concerned), which has not done many favours for whatever reputation this film has earned over the years. Alda is a generational talent, someone with a unique worldview and an abundance of skill that makes this film a delight, even when we find that it adheres slightly too closely to the rules of the genre, not being particularly revolutionary, but instead offering a solid, reliable comedy that has its heart in the right place, a few really well-constructed ideas and an atmosphere that is welcoming, engaging and frequently entertaining, which is ultimately all this film needed to be a success.