| Four Weddings and a Funeral | |
|---|---|
UK Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Mike Newell |
| Produced by | Duncan Kenworthy Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Richard Curtis |
| Written by | Richard Curtis |
| Starring | Hugh Grant Andie MacDowell James Fleet Simon Callow John Hannah Kristin Scott Thomas |
| Music by | Richard Rodney Bennett |
| Cinematography | Michael Coulter |
| Editing by | Jon Gregory |
| Studio | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Working Title Films Channel Four Films |
| Distributed by | Gramercy Pictures Rank Film Distributors |
| Release date(s) | March 9, 1994 (US) May 13, 1994 (UK) |
| Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English British Sign Language |
| Budget | $4.4 million |
| Box office | $245,700,832 |
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant. The film was an unexpected success, becoming the highest-grossing British film in cinema history at the time, with worldwide box office in excess of $245.7 million, and receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.[1][2]
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The film follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles (Hugh Grant), a debonair but faux pas-prone Englishman, who is smitten with Carrie, an attractive American (Andie MacDowell), who Charles repeatedly meets at weddings and at a funeral.
The first wedding is that of Angus and Laura (Timothy Walker and Sara Crowe), at which Charles is the best man. Charles and his collection of single friends wonder if they will ever get married. At this wedding, Charles meets Carrie for the first time and spends the night with her. Carrie teases him by pretending that now they have slept together, they will also have to get married, which Charles endeavours to respond to before realising she is joking. She then goes back home to America, observing that they may have missed an opportunity.
The second wedding is that of Bernard and Lydia (David Haig and Sophie Thompson), a couple who got together at the previous wedding. Rowan Atkinson makes his second appearance, this time as a fully fledged but gaffe-prone priest conducting his first wedding ceremony through his connection as a friend of the family. Charles is happy to discover that Carrie is attending the wedding until she introduces him to her fiancé, Sir Hamish Banks (Corin Redgrave), a wealthy politician from Scotland. At the reception, Charles finds himself seated at a table with several ex-girlfriends who relate embarrassing stories about his inability to be discreet, and afterward, bumps into Henrietta (known among Charles' friends as "Duckface"), with whom he had a difficult relationship.
As the evening wears on, Charles finds himself in an empty hotel suite watching Carrie and Hamish leave in a taxicab, only to be trapped in the bath after the newlyweds suddenly stumble into the room to have sex. After Charles awkwardly exits the room, Henrietta confronts him about his habit of "serial monogamy", telling him that he is afraid of letting anyone get too close to him. Shortly after this encounter, Charles runs into Carrie (without her fiancé), and they end up spending another night together.
A few months later, Charles receives an invitation to Carrie's wedding in Scotland. While shopping for a present in London he accidentally bumps into Carrie in a shop and ends up helping her select her wedding dress. Carrie also astonishes him with a list of her more than thirty sexual partners (he learns he is #32). He later tries to confess his love to her and hints that he would like to have a relationship with her. However, he says it rather lamely, and the confession obviously comes too late.
The third wedding is that of Carrie and Hamish at a Scottish castle. Charles attends, depressed at the prospect of Carrie marrying Hamish. As the reception gets under way, Gareth (Simon Callow) instructs his friends to go forth and seek potential mates; Fiona's brother, Tom (James Fleet), stumbles through an attempt to connect with the minister's wife, while Charles' flatmate, Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman), strikes up a conversation with a tall, attractive American named Chester. As Charles watches Carrie and Hamish dance as husband and wife, Charles' friend Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) deduces his feelings about Carrie. When Charles asks why Fiona is not married, she confesses that she has always loved Charles since they first met years ago. Charles is surprised and empathetic, but does not requite her love.
At the wedding, Matthew's lover, Gareth, dies suddenly of a heart attack: Matthew (John Hannah, in one of his first screen roles) is in another part of the room listening to the groom's toast when Gareth dies.
The funeral is that of Gareth. At the funeral, Matthew recites the poem Funeral Blues ("Stop all the clocks...") by W. H. Auden, commemorating his relationship with Gareth.[3][4] After the funeral, Charles and Tom have a discussion about whether finding that one true love is just a futile effort, and ponder that, while their clique have always viewed themselves as proud-to-be-single, Gareth and Matthew had in fact been a "married" couple amongst them all the while.
The fourth wedding takes place ten months later, and is that of Charles, who has decided to marry Henrietta. However, moments before the ceremony, Carrie arrives at the church and reveals to Charles that she and Hamish are no longer together. Charles has a crisis of confidence, which he reveals to his deaf brother David (David Bower). At the altar, when the vicar asks if anyone knows a reason why the couple should not marry, David asks Charles to translate for him, and says in sign language that he suspects the groom is having doubts and loves someone else. The vicar asks whether Charles does love someone else, and Charles replies, "I do." Henrietta punches Charles and the wedding is abruptly halted.
Finally, Carrie visits Charles, who is recovering from the debacle, to check that he is OK and apologise for attending. Charles confesses that, while standing at the altar, he realised that for the first time in his life he totally and utterly loved one person, "and it wasn't the person standing next to me in the veil." Charles makes a proposal of lifelong commitment without marriage to Carrie, saying, "Do you think not being married to me might maybe be something you could consider doing for the rest of your life?" Carrie responds by saying, "I do."
The song "Going To The Chapel" is then played as we see Henrietta marry a member of the guard, Scarlett marry Chester, David marry his girlfriend, Tom marry his distant cousin Deirdre (whom he met at Charles' wedding and instantly fell for), Matthew with a new partner (Duncan Kenworthy), Fiona marrying Prince Charles (a joke) and Charles and Carrie with their son, presumably not married.
The film was shot mainly in London and the Home Counties, including Hampstead, Greenwich Hospital, Betchworth in Surrey, Amersham in Buckinghamshire, St Bartholomew-the-Great (wedding #4) and West Thurrock in Essex. The scenes set in Scotland were filmed in Scotland (e.g. exterior shots of guests arriving for the funeral were filmed overlooking the River Tay, Dundee) and at stately homes in Bedfordshire (Luton Hoo for wedding two reception) and Hampshire.[5] Many of the extras were recruited by Amber Rudd who is described in the credits as Aristocracy Co-ordinator: among those used were Lords Burlington and Woolton.
The film was very well received with critics, currently holding a 96% "Certified Fresh" approval on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating, "While frothy to a fault, Four Weddings and a Funeral features irresistibly breezy humor, and winsome performances from Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell."[6]
Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "delightful and sly", and directed with "light-hearted enchantment" by Newell. He praised Grant's performance, describing it as a kind of "endearing awkwardness".[7]
The film did have its detractors, though. Writing for the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum called the film "generic" and "standard issue", stating that the audience shouldn't "expect to remember it ten minutes later".[8]
Time magazine writer Richard Corliss was less scathing, but agreed that it was forgettable, saying that people would "forget all about [the movie] by the time they leave the multiplex," even joking at the end of his review that he had forgotten the film's name.[9]
Upon its North American limited release on 11 March 1994, Four Weddings and a Funeral opened with $138,486 in 5 theatres.[10] But upon its wide release on 15 April 1994, the film topped the box office with $4,162,489.[11] The film would continue to gross $53,700,832 domestically with an additional $193 million internationally, earning $245,700,832 worldwide.[12]
At the BAFTAs, the film beat what many thought to be the front runner, Forrest Gump by Robert Zemeckis.
The film was voted the 27th greatest comedy film of all time by readers of Total Film in 2000. In 2004, the same magazine named it the 34th greatest British film of all time. It is number 96 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
The original score was composed by British classical composer Richard Rodney Bennett. The movie also featured a soundtrack of popular songs, including a cover version of The Troggs' "Love Is All Around" performed by Wet Wet Wet that remained at number 1 in the British charts for fifteen weeks and was then the ninth (now twelfth) biggest selling single of all time in Britain. This song would later be adapted into "Christmas Is All Around" and sung by the character of Billy Mack in Richard Curtis' 2003 film Love Actually, in which Grant also stars. The soundtrack also features Elton John's "Crocodile Rock", "But Not for Me", and "Chapel of Love", and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive."
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