There were three movies from this period that were the biggest inspiration for ‘Save the Date’ - ‘Father of the Bride,’ ‘What About Bob?,’ and ‘Better off Dead.’ ‘Father of the Bride’ (the 1991 Steve Martin version, not the 1950 Spencer Tracy - though that one is also wonderful) does two things beautifully.
Because I love the movies from this time period so much, it’s perhaps no surprise that I can see their influence in my newest novel.
And if you took my favorites away from me - the Back to the Future and Indiana Jones trilogies, ‘Home Alone,’ ‘Princess Bride,’ ‘The Goonies,’ ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ ‘Sleepless in Seattle,’ ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘War Games,’ ‘Die Hard’ - I would be cinematically bereft. Most of my ‘comfort food’ movies - the ones I watch over and over again, the ones that I keep downloaded on my phone or laptop, the ones I never tire of - come from this time period. In this period of relative peace and prosperity, post-Vietnam and Watergate, pre-9/11, movies could be unfettered fun. Advances in technology were making for interesting premises, but hadn’t advanced to the point where it would interfere with the story (seriously, half of all pre-2000s movies wouldn’t have existed, because their plots could be solved in minutes if someone had a cell phone/the internet/a GPS). It was a sweet spot when the blockbuster was taking off, but special effects hadn’t gotten to the green-screen fest we’re now mired in every summer movie season. But the ’80s and ’90s were also just an amazing time for movies. Perhaps this was inevitable, since I’m a child of the ’80s and these were the movies that I watched, and loved, in my formative years. In many ways, and more than any of my other books, ‘Save the Date’ is an homage to some of my favorite movies from the ’80s and ’90s.
What I get asked the most about while touring for my newest novel, ‘Save the Date,’ is inspiration, and if I was inspired by pop culture.
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