(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Thu 16 October 2025 2:30, UK
We all have that one movie which we find ourselves going back to, again and again – just ask Jennifer Lawrence.
Watching our favourite comfort film, we go to when we don’t feel like doing something new, the anxiety of having to pick a movie we’ve never seen before sends us running back into a universe that already feels familiar.
Picking a movie to watch, particularly with others, is a lot of the time a very solemn affair. What if you waste two hours of your life on a piece of utter cinematic slop? The endless scrolling through Netflix or Amazon Prime – a barrage of previews flashing up on screen with every click that only serves to overstimulate – can often cause us to feel a form of decision fatigue. Back to rewatching Clueless or Superbad it is, then.
It’s something that we typically associate with being young (how many times did I force my parents to watch The Cat in the Hat?), but it never really goes away. I still watch my favourite movies on repeat, even though I can remember what scenes are coming next, practically able to deliver the script alongside the actors.
The thing is, no one is immune to rewatching their favourite movies, wearing their DVD thin with endless plays. Consider Jennifer Lawrence, for example. She is a Hollywood star with an Oscar win that she added to her resumé at 22, but she still takes out time from her hectic schedule to watch one of her absolute favourite movies whenever she can, which is Father of the Bride Part II.
It may look like an apparently random selection, particularly considering Lawrence does not usually choose comedies, but maybe it is the sort of relief she requires after prolonged working days on films like Mother! and Die, My Love. Serving as the sequel to Father of the Bride, released four years earlier, the film wasn’t as well-received as its predecessor, but this hasn’t stopped Lawrence from holding it incredibly close to her heart. Who cares what the critics think anyway?
At the end of the day, if a film makes you feel great, no matter how good or bad it fared with critics or at the box office, then you should allow yourself as many rewatches as you want. Life is hard enough, and sometimes a heartwarming comedy can be enough to make your day a bit better, especially one featuring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Diane Keaton.
“The movie I’ve seen the most, and watch for any occasion, is Father of the Bride Two,” Lawrence told Vogue, although she failed to elaborate why she loves it so much. It’s not what you’d expect from her – and why does she not prefer the more successful Father of the Bride? – but sometimes your favourite is just your favourite, and that’s enough.
The Father of the Bride franchise actually began as a series of films in the 1950s, the first being Father’s Little Dividend, which was eventually remade in 1991 with Martin playing Spencer Tracy’s character. These days, the modern version of the story is far more popular, having spawned several beloved sequels. It might not be up there with The Godfather, but many people, like Lawrence, can’t help but come back to it.
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