Courtesy of Scott Garfield and Fox Searchlight

The new family comedy “Our Family Wedding,” directed by Rick Famuyiwa, follows in the shadows of movies such as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Guess Who,” “Meet the Fockers” and “Father Of The Bride.”

The movie brings together two different families, the Boyds and the Ramirez’s, as they attempt to get along while planning their children’s wedding.

The groom, Marcus Boyd, and bride, Lucia Ramirez, are played by two famous television stars, Lance Gross (“House of Payne”) and America Ferrera (“Ugly Betty”), respectively. As Lucia struggles with the need to please her family and live up to their expectations, Marcus is left with the problem of convincing his single father that he is ready to settle down.

Lucia also has to announce to her parents that she dropped out of law school and wants to marry Marcus before they travel to Laos, where he plans to partake in the charity program Doctors Without Borders.

Along the way, the film features typical family drama moments, such as meeting the family, trying to win the family’s affection, announcing unexpected news, arguing about wedding traditions and uncovering hidden agendas. The expected idea portrayed throughout the film is everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

There was also a battle of the fathers. Oscar winner Forest Whitaker plays the role of Brad Boyd, father of the groom, while Carlos Mencia plays Miguel Ramirez, father of the bride. Their relationship gets off to a bad start from the beginning and the tension escalates as the story unfolds.

Both men are constantly trying to one-up each other while trying not to lose face in front of their families. Brad is the wealthy single parent trying to live like he’s young, while Miguel is a family man who owns a towing company and values family traditions and has strong cultural ties.

Throughout the film, both characters struggle to accept the idea that their children are getting married but do so without much grace. Instead, both end up realizing they themselves have not been completely perfect in managing their own relationships with the women in their lives.

Overall, the movie provides more conflict than laughs. It also seems to lack the funny front man to help boost comedic value. It is another typical feel-good, wedding themed family comedy with familiar faces playing mediocre roles, such as Regina King as Brad’s media lawyer and love interest, Lupe Ontiveros as Momma Cecelia and Anjelah N. Johnson as Lucia’s sister Isabella.

Despite the lacking comedy, the movie did provide audiences a glance into the importance of family relationships and values, such as maintaining honesty and trust among family members, separating parents’ dreams from children’s dreams and being there for loved ones.

To watch the craziness unfold between the Boyd and the Ramirez families, “Our Family Wedding” is now showing in theaters. For more information go to www.foxsearchlight.com/ourfamilywedding.

Movie: Our Family Wedding
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Director: Rick Famuyiwa
Release Date: March 12
Grade: B