Question: Near the beginning at the wedding Fran comes to to meet Mary, Penny comes over to tell Mary about the bellydancer's tattoo. Mary then asks her to prepare the 'Murdoch file' and Fran's mom says "Murdoch? As in-" then she makes a funny noise as if this had some meaning to her. I realize the 'Murdoch file' was fake and just to get rid of Penny, but is there some other meaning for it?
Question: When Mary and Steve are in Mary's apartment, after they meet her ex and she gets drunk, she says that she is a "magnet for unavailable men". Who is she talking about other than Steve? It can't be Mossimo because he is single and actually pursuing Mary.
Answer: Her ex... who was not available since he was in love with another woman and not Mary.
Question: In the part where Mary first finds out Steve is Fran's fiancée and they are forced to dance together. They start arguing and at one point Mary says what she's thinking involves a machete and a pair of pliers. What does she mean? I've never understood that.
Chosen answer: The thing that immediately popped up in my mind was using the machete to slice off a certain male appendage, and adding insult to potential injury, that the appendage is probably so small that she would need a pair of pliers to hold onto it. I don't know if that's what the filmmaker intended as the meaning, but that's what I read into it.
Question: Why did Mary's parents have an arranged marriage? If her father is around the same age as the actor who plays him, then he was born in the 1930s. Probably got married in the '50s. Were arranged marriages still common in Italian families?
Answer: In the early-to-mid-20th century, arranged marriages were not uncommon in immigrant families. Ethnic groups tended to prefer matrimony within their own culture to preserve religious beliefs, old traditions, and way of life, especially as immigrants became increasingly dispersed and the American population grew more blended through inter-marriages. While a family could not legally force their children to marry, they could exert tremendous pressure to do so. Also, people did not always wed for love but for more practical reasons and relied on families to help arrange a suitable match. For women, it was often about finding a good provider, raise a family, and having a certain social status. Men preferred an attractive woman from a suitable family, who would be a good homemaker, provide children, and support them in their careers.
Question: Is Fran and Steve's wedding being held on a weekday? City Hall is open for Mary and Missimo's wedding.
Answer: It may be an evening affair.
Chosen answer: It's possible. Some brides will agree to get married on a weekday in order to have it at the location they really want. Some places book way in advance and are hard to book.
Answer: Sometimes it is cheaper to hold a wedding on a weekday rather then the weekend.
Answer: Murdoch as in media mogul Rupert Murdoch. It makes her sound important, giving the impression that someone of his caliber would use her for a wedding planner.