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| Plot Synopsis This acclaimed British comedy centers on the intermittent romance between a charming (if slightly bumbling) Englishman and a beautiful American woman, who seem to always run into each other at weddings. Indeed, it is at the first of the title's four weddings that Charles (Hugh Grant) and Carrie (Andie McDowell) meet, enjoying a brief but fleeting connection. The spark is rekindled several months later, when they unexpectedly meet at another wedding. Unfortunately, however, Carrie has become engaged to another, a fact that complicates matters for them both. The story may seem simple, but the film is elevated by screenwriter Richard Curtis' ear for witty dialogue and a colorful supporting cast. Director Mike Newell's sympathetic attention to character keeps the proceedings believable, and prevents the film's more serious moments from seeming mawkish. These elements, along with Grant's star-making performance as Charles, helped the film achieve unexpected international success, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. - Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide Reviews MATTHEW DOBERMAN All Movie Guide The rare romantic comedy that doesn't falter when it delves into more serious matters, Four Weddings and a Funeral is one of the most successful British films of all time, and for good reason. The movie introduced Hugh Grant's unique brand of bumbling English charm to millions of viewers, and marked Kristin Scott Thomas' first breakthrough hit. Director Mike Newell blends great laughs with unforced, non-manipulative moments of poignancy: the heartfelt recitation of W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues" is particularly moving. Richard Curtis' screenplay is witty and fresh, bristling with great lines and well-observed details. CHERYL NORTHCOTT Apollo Guide Apollo Score: 80 Ah, the romantic comedy - the original formula film. Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back. Boy marries girl and they live happily ever after. That's exactly what happens in Four Weddings and a Funeral. So, why bother watching? Because it's really funny! It isn't just a sappy love story about star-crossed lovers, with a few inane situations thrown in. This is a film where everything that could possibly go wrong during a wedding does. And then it does again. We see everything from the best man forgetting the rings (with a frantic mid-ceremony poll among his friends to find substitutes), to a guest dying during the groom's speech. According to the screenwriter, Richard Curtis, most of the outrageous events are based on actual incidents at weddings he had attended. Charles (Hugh Grant), notorious for his chronic tardiness, meets Carrie (Andie MacDowell) at the wedding of mutual acquaintances and Charles immediately becomes infatuated. Time passes and they meet again at another wedding and renew their friendship, although Carrie is now engaged to someone else. Then Charles receives an invitation to Carrie's wedding, which he attends, and ultimately, Carrie appears at Charles' wedding. Four Weddings and a Funeral is a series of vignettes that progressively show more of Charles' budding relationship with Carrie. Within these vignettes are sub-plots about the love lives of the people within Charles' social circle - a motley group including the staid Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas), her bumbling brother, Tom, the jolly life-o-the party Gareth (Simon Callow), the outrageously attired Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman), and Gareth's partner, the subtle and utterly delightful Matthew, played to perfection by John Hannah. In addition to the antics of Charles and his friends, we are also treated to an uproariously funny wedding scene with Rowan Atkinson as the presiding clergyman. Four Weddings and a Funeral is an intelligent romantic comedy that appeals to our love of happy endings, without making it too trite. The film is packed with comic relief from the very beginning, however the laughs become a little more sparse as the movie nears its conclusion. While we look forward to seeing whether Charles and Carrie will end up together, the final scene is a little too contrived, even for a formulaic romantic comedy. Except for this excess, Four Weddings and a Funeral is a fun film that's hard to dislike. SCOTT RENSHAW Rec.Arts.Movies.Reviews Where romantic comedy is concerned, I am a tough sell. Too many of them seem to put across the impression that all you need to do is put two people on the screen and have them end up together, regardless of whether or not they are developed with an interesting conflict (or even speak to one another, as in the monstrously overhyped SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE). I'm not going to turn into a pile of goo every time I see a screen kiss, but I will respond if I've spent two hours with two well-developed characters who seem to belong together. The new British comedy FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL delivers only halfway. Hugh Grant turns in a charming, star-making performance in this uneven character piece, but Andie MacDowell always appears to be more of a prop than a person. Grant stars as Charles, an inveterate bachelor who seems to find himself going to a friend's wedding every weekend. At one of these weddings, he spots a beautiful American named Carrie (Andie MacDowell), and finds himself instantly smitten. Their encounter is brief, but leaves him wondering about his own desire for a lasting relationship, and his ability to make it succeed. Then, to Charles' surprise, he meets Carrie again, at yet another wedding. However, there is an impediment to his affections: Carrie is engaged. While their flame smolders throughout their periodic meetings, Charles is ultimately left to deal with his own fears and to make some difficult decisions about what he really wants. FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL was written by Richard Curtis, co-creator of the popular British television import "Black Adder," a series not renowned for its sentimentality. And FOUR WEDDINGS is extremely winning when it's not focusing on relationships. The film is loaded with goofy moments--Charles the best man frantically trying to improvise for the forgotten wedding rings in the first ceremony; "Black Adder" vet Rowan Atkinson as a nervous novice priest malapropping his way through the second wedding; Charles trapped in a room with two newlyweds with impressive stamina. There are enough of these lively set pieces that FOUR WEDDINGS rarely lags for too long, and the laughs come at fairly regular intervals. It is when Curtis shifts to his characters that he stumbles. Part of the problem is that in an attempt to create yet another ensemble friends piece he overloads the film with supporting characters, giving short shrift to the crucial relationship between Charles and Carrie. What's worse, almost all of the friends are drawn in only the sketchiest of terms; characters like Charles' cynical friend Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) and flatmate Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman) are given a few lines to establish their particular romantic dilemma, then sent to fade into the background. Only James Fleet, as befuddled aristocrat Tom, provides any spark to the proceedings. The simple fact is that I kept losing track of the relationships between all these people, and didn't particularly care when I could figure them out. This lack of focus is inexcusable considering the cursory treatment Carrie's character is given. Part of FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL's message about love is that we should all be looking for that one person who makes "lightning strike," and while the romantic sentiment is laudable it also assumes that we as an audience should recognize it when we see it. Hugh Grant, looking frighteningly like Harold Lloyd in his horn-rims, is an absolute delight; he turns Charles into a wonderful, funny, fallible character, and we want to see him happy. But Carrie is simply a plot device. We know virtually nothing about her except that Charles has a crush on her, and Andie MacDowell is not subtle enough an actress to fill in the blanks. It also might have been helpful to understand Charles' romantic history better, which could have been accomplished through a more complete picture of ex-girlfriend Henrietta, but that too is absent. There is much to recommend FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL as a comedy; it's bright and spirited and well-paced. As a romance, it leaves much to be desired ... primarily a second party for the romantic pairing. Awards 1994 Academy Best Original Screenplay (nom) Best Picture (nom) 1994 Golden Globe Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (win)-Hugh Grant Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (nom)-Andie MacDowell Best Film (Musical or Comedy) (nom) Best Screenplay (nom)-Richard Curtis Others Best Director (nom)-Mike Newell -1994 Directors Guild of America Best Foreign Film (win)-Mike Newell -1994 French Academy of Cinema Best Picture (nom)- -1994-National Board of Review |
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| FOUR WEDDINGS & A FUNERAL 1994 - UK - 116 min. - Feature--Color Director - Mike Newell |
| Genre / Type - Comedy, Romantic Comedy, Sophisticated Comedy Flags - Adult Language, Not For Children, Adult Situations MPAA Rating - R Keywords - bachelor, death, English [nationality], romance Themes - Otherwise Engaged, Wedding Bells, Unrequited Love Tones - Urbane, Witty, Warm, Wistful Moods - In the Mood for Love, Mood Enhancers Color type - Metrocolor Sound by - Dolby Produced by - Channel 4 / Gramercy Pictures / Polygram / Working Title Films MPAA Reasons - for language, and for some sexuality DVD Street Date - Nov 29, 2004 Languages - English Subtitles - English Screen Format - Color, WS Aspect Ratio - 16:9 (DVD) Studio - MGM Cast Hugh Grant -- Charles Andie MacDowell -- Carrie Kristin Scott Thomas -- Fiona Simon Callow -- Gareth James Fleet -- Tom John Hannah -- Matthew Corin Redgrave -- Hamish Charlotte Coleman -- Scarlett David Bower -- David Rowan Atkinson -- Father Gerald Anna Chancellor -- Henrietta Susanna Hamnett -- Deirdre |
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