Four Weddings and a Funeral

Starring: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, John Hannah, Kristen Scott Thomas, Rowan Atkinson
Directed by: Mike Newell
Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Box Office: $52,700,832
1994

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: In Great Britain, a group of single friends attend various weddings searching for love. One man (Hugh Grant) in the group falls for an American woman (Andie MacDowell) who keeps popping up at the various weddings.

Review:
Tim: I heard wonderful things about this film, how it is one of the best English comedies of all time and how important it was in launching the career of Hugh Grant. I'll admit he is pretty good here, but this film fails in comparison to some of his later work.

The cast of the film is actually very well assembled. Grant does a decent job holding the lead, and has great support from the rest of the cast. Especially terrific is John Hannah. I only wish he had a larger role in the film. I would have liked it much more then. The more I see of this guy, the more I am really taken by his acting ability. He is very likeable here.

For every bit of praise towards Hannah, one bit of criticism needs to go to Andie MacDowell. Here she is very unlikeable and just does not seem to fit into the movie. She gives a lackluster performance and seems awkward from start to finish. She can definitely shine in films (like Groundhog Day) but here, she stinks.

This might be kind of sad, but I found the most interesting aspect of the film to be waiting for each wedding and wondering whose funeral it will be (since you're given the four weddings and 1 funeral formula in advance). Unfortunately, even with good performances from most of the cast, I couldn't help but disliking all the characters and not really caring one way or the other what happened to them.

However, the movie still proved to be somewhat humorous. Grant does manage to be really funny at times, especially when he's swearing while late for all the weddngs. Sadly, this is by far the highlight of the film. I suppose in the end it is somewhat clever and decently funny, but more than anything else, I'll always regard this film as a letdown.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Groundhog Day, Two Weeks Notice, Notting Hill, Sliding Doors, The Mummy, Rat Race, Mickey Blue Eyes