Article - SXnews.com - November 9th, 2006
A vow worth taking
Writer Geoffrey Atherden hits the mark once again, writes Greg Crockett.
Stepfather of the Bride is the latest telemovie from Geoffrey Atherden, who also wrote Mother and Son and Grass Roots. This time Atherden has written about a wedding and the effect it has on various members of the bride and groom’s families. We’ve all seen this kind of story done a million times before, but what’s surprising about this particular film is that two of the lead characters are so utterly horrible that it’s quite impossible to care about their problems. In fact after 20 minutes with them, all I really cared about was giving each of them a good hard slap.
Stepfather of the Bride opens with twentysomethings Skye and Lachlan deciding to get married, but all sorts of complications soon stand in their way. Probably the biggest issue is that Skye is a greedy, lame-brained, highly unpleasant yuppie who quickly turns into Bridezilla. For some inexplicable reason, the best man Jack (Alex Dimitriades) is secretly in love with this monster and flounces around chucking tanties because she’s marrying someone else. It’s difficult to see why Lachlan would want two such hideous people in his life … and why viewers would want to listen to them whine.
Fortunately, at about the half-hour mark the action switches to all of the parents, in particular Skye’s mother Sophie (Noni Hazelhurst) and stepfather Daniel (William McInnes). Their gradually unfolding marital woes are beautifully written and acted and almost make bearable the avaricious bleatings of their vile daughter. Georgie Parker also has a couple of nice moments as the eccentric Aunt and Garry McDonald is effective as the sleazy father of the bride who doesn’t want to spend anything on the wedding. Given his daughter is such a cow, at least he can save some money on dairy products.
There are 16 principal characters and all sorts of subplots to cover in Stepfather of the Bride, but thankfully the narration by McInnes and a couple of short animated sequences cleverly explain who everyone is and how they fit into the story. Ultimately, the piece proves to be quite satisfying and has an emotional payoff at the end, but it’s nearly done in by the first 30 minutes. There’s a wonderful hour of Australian drama on offer in Stepfather of the Bride … it’s just unfortunate that the program actually runs and hour and a half.
Stepfather of the Bride screens on the ABC Sunday night at 8.30pm.
Writer Geoffrey Atherden hits the mark once again, writes Greg Crockett.
Stepfather of the Bride is the latest telemovie from Geoffrey Atherden, who also wrote Mother and Son and Grass Roots. This time Atherden has written about a wedding and the effect it has on various members of the bride and groom’s families. We’ve all seen this kind of story done a million times before, but what’s surprising about this particular film is that two of the lead characters are so utterly horrible that it’s quite impossible to care about their problems. In fact after 20 minutes with them, all I really cared about was giving each of them a good hard slap.
Stepfather of the Bride opens with twentysomethings Skye and Lachlan deciding to get married, but all sorts of complications soon stand in their way. Probably the biggest issue is that Skye is a greedy, lame-brained, highly unpleasant yuppie who quickly turns into Bridezilla. For some inexplicable reason, the best man Jack (Alex Dimitriades) is secretly in love with this monster and flounces around chucking tanties because she’s marrying someone else. It’s difficult to see why Lachlan would want two such hideous people in his life … and why viewers would want to listen to them whine.
Fortunately, at about the half-hour mark the action switches to all of the parents, in particular Skye’s mother Sophie (Noni Hazelhurst) and stepfather Daniel (William McInnes). Their gradually unfolding marital woes are beautifully written and acted and almost make bearable the avaricious bleatings of their vile daughter. Georgie Parker also has a couple of nice moments as the eccentric Aunt and Garry McDonald is effective as the sleazy father of the bride who doesn’t want to spend anything on the wedding. Given his daughter is such a cow, at least he can save some money on dairy products.
There are 16 principal characters and all sorts of subplots to cover in Stepfather of the Bride, but thankfully the narration by McInnes and a couple of short animated sequences cleverly explain who everyone is and how they fit into the story. Ultimately, the piece proves to be quite satisfying and has an emotional payoff at the end, but it’s nearly done in by the first 30 minutes. There’s a wonderful hour of Australian drama on offer in Stepfather of the Bride … it’s just unfortunate that the program actually runs and hour and a half.
Stepfather of the Bride screens on the ABC Sunday night at 8.30pm.
posted by WilliamWatch at 7:34 PM
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