Review: Four Weddings and a Funeral

We follow Charles (Hugh Grant) as he attends several weddings, usually attended by his inner circle of friends and family members. At one such wedding he meets an American named Carrie (Andie MacDowell) and is immediately smitten. Unfortunately, various circumstances see them enter and leave each other’s lives throughout the film without much of a chance to start anything (partly due to Charles being an awkward, reticent git). And then Charles gets an invite to Carrie’s wedding to a boring Scot named Hamish (Corin Redgrave). Charlotte Coleman plays Charles’ flirty flatmate Scarlett, whilst Simon Callow and John Hannah play the gregarious Gareth and good-natured Matthew, who although it isn’t signified in bright neon letters, are a loving couple. Kristin Scott Thomas is Fiona, a bitchy sort who hides a fragility (and longing for Charles) beneath the surface, whilst Anna Chancellor plays Charles’ insecure ex, whom Fiona refers to as ‘Duck Face’. James Fleet and David Bower round out the principal cast as dull but affable rich friend Tom, and Charles’ deaf brother respectively (Bower being deaf in real-life apparently). In smaller turns we get Rowan Atkinson who pops up a couple of times as a comically nervous priest, Jeremy Kemp and Rosalie Crutchley as parents, and an ancient-looking Kenneth Griffith as a cantankerous and possibly loony old wedding guest.

 

If you haven’t seen this 1994 romantic comedy from Mike Newell (“Donnie Brasco”, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”) and screenwriter Richard Curtis (writer-director of “Love Actually” and “The Boat That Rocked”) in a while, you may have forgotten just how terrific it is. You might even remember why you loved Wet Wet Wet’s cover of ‘Love is All Around’ before you heard it for the zillionth time and wanted to murder somebody. Seeing it again for the first time in years I felt like I was going back in time to visit some old friends, even though these people aren’t my friends and I don’t like weddings. Or any large social gatherings for that matter. But these characters are just wonderful, and whether you’ve seen the film before or not, you’ll have a great time with them.

 

We start off with what will become a running gag, and something that is in my view one of the funniest (and foul-mouthed) scenes in any movie as our protagonist finds himself running late for a wedding, and not for the last time. It’s the utterance of ‘fuckety fuck!’ that always gets me, and it’s a phrase I’ve used over the years, too. It’s as a comedy that the film fares best, actually. We all got jolly well sick of Hugh Grant after a while, didn’t we? But in this he’s not only a charming, affable fella, but he’s hilariously awkward, too. His perpetual foot-in-mouth and priceless reactions are a tremendous source of humour. He gets one particularly brilliant set piece where he is seated at a wedding dinner at a table surrounded by several of his ex-girlfriends. It’s a bit of a Woody Allen-esque moment, that one. The comic highlight, however, is the great Rowan Atkinson as a nervous novice priest. It’s one of his finest hours, as he completely messes up the formal proceedings. The look on his face when he actually says something right actually had me aching with laughter this time out. Also funny, is the bride at the first wedding, who is hilariously dumb, and the horrid wedding band in the first wedding are brilliantly funny too.

 

James Fleet also scores well as the amusingly thick but well-meaning rich dullard Tom, he steals his every scene. Kristin Scott Thomas is perfectly cast as the acid-tongued, but somewhat fragile Fiona, who quite clearly harbours romantic feelings for Grant’s Charles, but has to be content to watch him pursue the romantic affections of others. Special mention must also go to the late Charlotte Coleman as Charles’ slightly trashy but sweet flatmate Scarlett. She, like Fleet, steals her every scene, and I was absolutely gutted to read that she passed away from a fatal asthma attack in 2001 at the far too young age of 33. Familiar faces pop up all over the place, with the great Kenneth Griffith playing a particularly cranky and absent-minded old man, though veteran character actors Jeremy Kemp (whose scenes were apparently mostly cut from the film) and Rosalie Crutchley (in her last theatrical release) are poorly used as parents in one of the weddings. The heart of the film may belong to John Hannah and an amusingly gregarious Simon Callow as more than just the token gay couple. They come to feel like fully-rounded and much-loved characters.

 

The one thorn among the roses here, and I’m pretty sure if you’ve read this far you probably predicted it, is Andie MacDowell. I know she’s playing the token American and is probably meant to be a tad crass amongst the very proper Britishness on display throughout the rest of the film, but in addition to being an amateurish actress, MacDowell has always had an odd look about her (She has the same problem I have- she’s all top row teeth when she smiles. Is it still insulting if I compare her to myself? More insulting?) and her nasal Southern twang I find really awkward and irritating. Her performance overall feels flat and a bit awkward, and to be honest I don’t think her character is terribly charming, either. It’s not just that she’s had so many sexual partners, that’s fine and actually an amusing scene. The scene where she takes Charles shopping for her wedding dress, however is totally unforgiveable. They’ve already slept together at this point, and it’s just cruel and wrong. It’s a total miscalculation that you’ll read in just about every post 1995 review of the film. I’ve heard Marisa Tomei turned the part down (and still kicks herself for it today apparently), and she would’ve been absolutely perfect. She’s got the charisma, sweetness and acting ability that MacDowell lacks. However, I’m not even sure Tomei could’ve made the character likeable enough to overcome that one awfully misguided scene. It’s weird that a romantic comedy still works wonderfully well when its leading lady (and her character) is a dud, but once again this is a rare romantic comedy that fires more on the comedic front than it does the romantic front anyway. It’s a very, very funny film. Also, the supporting characters are so positively charming, that they help smooth things over too.

 

I’ve liked all three of Richard Curtis’ scripts that I mentioned above, but I think this one stands tallest because it seems to have the right ratio of interesting characters. The latter two films (which he himself directed, which may or may not matter), although very enjoyable, had some characters far more interesting than others.

 

A rather simple idea, but this modern romantic comedy has very little wrong with it. Change the female lead and you’d possibly have a contender to the romantic comedy throne still to this day held by “When Harry Met Sally”. It’s also a very funny comedy, and the characters are a really lovely lot. I don’t much like weddings and I don’t much like people, but it is a continual pleasure to attend these four weddings (not so much the funeral, though!).

 

Rating: A-