In 1999, Four Weddings and a Funeral was placed 23rd on the British Film Institute's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century. In 2016, Empire magazine ranked it 21st in their list of the 100 best British films.[4] A 2017 poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers, and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 74th best British film ever.[5]
Curtis reunited director Newell and the surviving cast for a 25th anniversary reunion Comic Relief short entitled One Red Nose Day and a Wedding, which aired in the UK during Red Nose Day on 15 March 2019.[6]
Plot
On 1 May 1993, at the wedding of Angus and Laura in Somerset, the perpetually late best man Charles, his flatmate Scarlett, his aristocratic friend Fiona and her brother Tom, Gareth and his partner Matthew, and Charles's deaf brother David, all gather. All are unmarried. Charles forgets the rings and hastily borrows two from the congregation, which prove to be incongruous. At the reception, he makes a risqué speech and is attracted to Carrie, an American woman who has been working in England. They spend the night together. In the morning, Carrie, who is returning to the U.S., laments to him that they may have "missed a great opportunity".
Three months later, at the London wedding of Bernard and Lydia – who got together at the previous wedding – Tom is the best man. Charles is excited to run into Carrie, who has returned to the U.K. He is disappointed to meet Hamish, Carrie's older, wealthy Scottish fiancé. A young woman named Serena is attracted to David.
During the reception, Charles is humiliated by several ex-girlfriends. These include the distraught Henrietta, called "Duckface" by Fiona and whose brother was inadvertently insulted by Charles at the first wedding. Henrietta claims Charles is a "serial monogamist" fearful of commitment. Charles retreats to an empty hotel suite and sees Carrie and Hamish depart by taxi. Charles is temporarily trapped in the room when the newlyweds stumble in to have sex. Carrie returns to the reception; she and Charles spend a second night together.
A month later, Charles receives an invitation to Carrie's wedding to Hamish. While searching for a gift on London's South Bank, he runs into Carrie. Charles helps Carrie choose a wedding dress, after which she recounts her 33 sexual partners to him; Charles, who was number 32, awkwardly confesses he loves her, and Carrie gently rebuffs him.
A month later, Charles and his friends attend Carrie and Hamish's wedding in Perthshire. The flamboyant Gareth tells the group to seek potential mates. Scarlett meets Chester, a Texan. Henrietta points out her new boyfriend to Charles. As Charles watches Carrie and Hamish dance, Fiona, aware of Charles's unhappiness, tells him she remains single because she loves him. Charles, though sympathetic, does not reciprocate her feelings. During Hamish's speech, Gareth suffers a fatal heart attack.
At Gareth's funeral, Matthew recites "Funeral Blues", a poem by W. H. Auden. Carrie and Charles share a brief moment, and Charles and Tom then ponder that, despite their clique's pride in being single, Gareth and Matthew were as a "married" couple. They wonder whether seeking "one true love" is futile.
Ten months later, Charles's wedding day arrives; he is marrying Henrietta. While seating guests, Tom meets his distant cousin, Deirdre, whom he has not seen since childhood; they are smitten with each other. Scarlett and Chester are overjoyed to meet again.
Carrie arrives and tells Charles she and Hamish separated following a difficult marriage. Charles has an emotional crisis in a back room of the church. After David and Matthew counsel him, he decides to proceed with the wedding. When the vicar asks whether anyone present has reason why the couple should not marry, David uses sign language to say the groom has doubts and loves someone else. Charles confirms this by saying "I do", and a furious Henrietta knocks him out at the altar, ending the ceremony.
Later that day, Charles is at his flat discussing the fiasco with his friends when Carrie arrives to apologise for causing trouble. Charles again says he loves her and proposes a lifelong commitment without marriage, which Carrie accepts. As they kiss, a thunderbolt flashes across the sky.
In an ending photo montage, Henrietta has married an Army officer; David married Serena; Scarlett has married Chester, the Texan; Tom married Deirdre; Matthew has found a new male partner; Fiona is shown with Prince Charles; and Charles and Carrie have had their first child.
Screenwriter Richard Curtis's own experiences as a wedding attendee inspired Four Weddings and a Funeral.[7] According to Curtis, he began writing the script at age 34, after realising he had attended 65 weddings in an 11-year period. At one wedding he was propositioned by a fellow guest, but he turned her down and forever regretted it; accordingly, he based the origin of Charles and Carrie's romance on that situation.[7]
It took Curtis 17 drafts to reach the final version. He has commented on director Mike Newell's influence; "I come from a school where making it funny is what matters. Mike was obsessed with keeping it real. Every character, no matter how small, has a story, not just three funny lines. It's a romantic film about love and friendship that swims in a sea of jokes." [8]
Curtis chose to omit any mention of the characters' careers, because he did not think a group of friends would realistically discuss their jobs while together at a wedding.[7]
Casting
Curtis, Newell and the producers began the casting process for Four Weddings in early 1992. Alex Jennings was cast as Charles, but funding for the production fell through in mid-1992.[9] Jennings would eventually go on to play a supporting role in Mindy Kaling's 2019 television miniseries adaptation of the film. The team continued holding auditions for over a year, seeing roughly 70 actors for the role of Charles before Hugh Grant.[3]
Grant was ready to give up acting as a career when he received the script for Four Weddings and a Funeral; he stated in 2016 that: "I wasn't really getting any work at all, and then to my great surprise this script came through the letterbox from my agent, and it was really good. And I rang on and said there must be a mistake, you've sent me a good script."[10] Initially, writer Richard Curtis, who had modelled the character of Charles after himself, was opposed to casting Grant in the role, because he thought Grant was too handsome. Curtis favoured casting Alan Rickman, but Rickman refused to audition. Curtis was eventually persuaded by Newell and the producers to approve Grant's casting.[11]
Jeanne Tripplehorn was originally cast as Carrie, but she had to drop out before filming when her mother died.[12] The role was offered to Marisa Tomei, but she turned it down, because her grandfather was sick at the time.[13]Sarah Jessica Parker was also reportedly considered. Andie MacDowell was in London doing publicity for Groundhog Day when she read the script[14] and was subsequently cast.[7] MacDowell took a 75% cut in her fee to appear, receiving $250,000 upfront, but due to the success of the film, she earned around $3 million.[15]
Grant's participation hit another stumbling block when his agent requested a £5,000 rise over the £35,000 salary Grant was offered. The producers initially refused because of the extremely tight budget, but eventually agreed. The supporting cast-members were paid £17,500 apiece.[16]
Production
Duncan Kenworthy produced the film while on sabbatical from Jim Henson Productions.[15] Pre-production for the movie was a long process because funding was erratic, falling through in mid-1992 and leading to much uncertainty.[3] Finally in early 1993, Working Title Films stepped in to close the gap. Nonetheless, another $1.2 million was cut just before production began in the summer of 1993, forcing the film to be made in just 36 days with a final budget of £2.7 million (appr. $4.4 million in 1994).[3]Channel Four Films contributed £800,000.[15] The budget was so tight that extras had to wear their own wedding clothes, while Rowan Atkinson appeared as a vicar at two of the weddings so production would not have to pay another actor.[7]
To make Grant look more nerdy, the producers styled him with shaggy hair, glasses, and deliberately unflattering, ill-fitting clothes.[17][18] Grant was encouraged by director Mike Newell to mess up and trip over his lines, written in "convoluted syntax" as Grant describes them, in order to give Charles a stammering, nervous quality.[18] Grant, who struggled with hay fever throughout filming, was unsure of Newell's direction and his own performance, which he thought was "atrocious." Regarding Newell, Grant commented that: "He seemed to be giving direction against what I thought were the natural beats of the comedy. He was making a film with texture, grounding it, playing the truths rather than the gags".[8]
According to Hugh Grant, the initial screening of a rough-cut of Four Weddings went very badly.
"I thought we'd screwed it up. When we went to watch a rough cut, all of us, me, Richard Curtis, Mike Newell, the producers, all thought this was the worst film that's ever been perpetrated. We're gonna go and emigrate to Peru when it comes out so no one can actually find us. And then they had a, a few cuts later they took it to Santa Monica for a test screening and everyone loved it. And it was a great surprise."[10]
Throughout production, Gramercy Pictures, the U.S. distributor for the film, sent frequent transatlantic faxes objecting to the explicit language and sexual content, fearing the final product would not be suitable for American distribution or television airings.[3] They particularly objected to the opening scene of the movie, in which Charles and Scarlett say the word "Fuck" over and over, after an initial screening of the movie in Salt Lake City led the conservative Mormon members of the city council to walk out.[7][11] Accordingly, Mike Newell and the actors agreed to reshoot the scene with the British swear word "Bugger" to be used in the American version.[7] The executives also objected to the title, believing Four Weddings and a Funeral would turn off male viewers from the film. In its place they suggested such titles as True Love and Near Misses, Loitering in Sacred Places, Skulking Around, and Rolling in the Aisles, none of which were accepted.[3]
Music and soundtrack
The original score was composed by British 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 on the UK Singles Chart 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 album sold more than 750,000 units.[15]
It opened in the United States on 11 March 1994 in five theatres. The box office receipts from the first five days of the film's general release in the United States so impressed the movie's distributor that it decided to spend lavishly on promotion, buying full-page newspaper ads and TV-spots totaling some $11 million.[3] The movie also benefited from much free publicity because of Grant's reception in the United States, where he became an instant sex symbol and undertook a successful media tour promoting the film.[11] Producer Duncan Kenworthy stated that "It was the most amazing luck that when Hugh went on the publicity trail he turned out to be incredibly funny, and very like the character of Charles. That doesn't ever happen."[3] The film had a wide release in the United States on 15 April 1994.
At the UK premiere in Leicester Square on 11 May 1994, Hugh Grant's then-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley garnered much publicity for the film when she wore a black Versace safety-pin dress which became a sensation in the press.[3] The film opened in the UK on 13 May 1994.
Reception
Critical response
Four Weddings and a Funeral received critical acclaim.[21][22] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's critics consensus states, "Hugh Grant ably snatches up the bouquet of leading man status with Four Weddings and a Funeral, a sparkling romantic comedy given real charm by its chummy ensemble and Richard Curtis' sharp-witted screenplay."[23]Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[24]
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".[25]Todd McCarthy of Variety called it a "truly beguiling romantic comedy" which was "frequently hilarious without being sappily sentimental or tiresomely retrograde."[26] Producer Duncan Kenworthy later attributed much of the success of Four Weddings at the box office to McCarthy's review.[3]
Writing for the Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum called the film "generic" and "standard issue", stating that the audience should not "expect to remember it ten minutes later".[27]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.[28]
Box office
Upon its limited release in the United States, Four Weddings and a Funeral opened with $138,486 from five theatres.[29] In its wide release, the film topped the box office with $4.2 million.[30] The film would go on to gross $52.7 million in the United States and Canada.[2]
In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £1.4 million in its opening weekend, a record for a UK production,[31] and £2.7 million in its opening week from 211 theatres. It was number one for nine consecutive weeks, grossing £27.8 million, making it the second highest-grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom behind Jurassic Park.[32][15][33] It surpassed A Fish Called Wanda as the highest-grossing British film.[34] In France, it was number one at the box office for ten weeks, grossing $34.4 million.[35] It was also number one at the Australian box office for five weeks and was the second-highest-grossing film of the year, grossing $A21.4 million.[36][37][38] Overall, it grossed $245.7 million worldwide, generating the highest percentage return on cost of films released in 1994.[2][39] The success of the film cleared Working Title's past losses and generated over $50 million for Polygram, clearing most of their losses in the four years since they started producing films.[15]
Recognition
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 Guardian, in a 20th anniversary retrospective of Four Weddings, stated that "Its influence on the British film industry, on romantic-comedy writing, on the pop charts, on funeral readings, on haircuts, was enormous."[3]
Hugh Grant commented in 2016 on the experience of the film's phenomenal success and its effect on his career: "I was making An Awfully Big Adventure at the time that Four Weddings came out, with Mike Newell again, same director, even tinier budget, in Dublin. And we'd get back from brutal days on the set, very long and no money, and the fax machines...were coming out saying that now your film Four Weddings is #5 in America, now it's #3, now it's #1 and here's an offer Hugh, for Captain Blood and they'll pay you $1 million. It was completely surreal."[10]
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards. The films in which she has starred have collectively grossed over $3.9 billion globally, making her one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. After an early breakthrough with appearances in Mystic Pizza (1988) and Steel Magnolias (1989), Roberts established herself as a leading actress when she headlined the top-grossing romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990).
Rosalie Anderson MacDowell is an American actress and former fashion model. MacDowell is known for her starring film roles in romantic comedies and dramas. She has modeled for Calvin Klein and has been a spokeswoman for L'Oréal since 1986.
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis is a British screenwriter, producer and director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), About Time (2013), and Yesterday (2019). He is also known for the drama War Horse (2011) and for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News and ITV's Spitting Image.
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as a charming and vulnerable romantic leading man, and has since transitioned into a character actor. He has received several accolades including a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. He received an Honorary César in 2006. As of 2018, his films had grossed a total of nearly US$3 billion worldwide. In 2022, Time Out magazine listed Grant as one of Britain's 50 greatest actors of all time.
Notting Hill is a 1999 romantic comedy film directed by Roger Michell. The screenplay was written by Richard Curtis, and the film was produced by Duncan Kenworthy. It stars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, with Rhys Ifans, Emma Chambers, Tim McInnerny, Gina McKee, and Hugh Bonneville in supporting roles. The story is of a romance between a British bookseller (Grant) and a famous American actress (Roberts) who happens to walk into his shop in London's Notting Hill district.
Carrie-Anne Moss is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in The Matrix series (1999–present). She has starred in Memento (2000), for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, Red Planet (2000), Chocolat (2000), Fido (2006), Snow Cake (2006), for which she won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Disturbia (2007), Unthinkable (2010), Silent Hill: Revelation (2012), and Pompeii (2014). She also portrayed Jeri Hogarth in several television series produced by Marvel Television for Netflix, most notably Jessica Jones (2015–2019).
A Fish Called Wanda is a 1988 heist comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and written by Crichton and John Cleese. It stars Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin. The film follows a gang of diamond thieves who double-cross one another to recover stolen diamonds hidden by their jailed leader. His barrister becomes a central figure – and jealousies rage – as femme fatale Wanda seduces him to locate the loot.
Muriel's Wedding is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by P. J. Hogan. The film, which stars Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Jeanie Drynan, Sophie Lee, and Bill Hunter, focuses on the socially awkward Muriel whose ambition is to have a glamorous wedding and improve her personal life by moving from her dead-end hometown, the fictional Porpoise Spit, to Sydney.
Love Actually is a 2003 Christmas romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The Christmas film features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous projects. An international co-production of the United Kingdom, United States, and France, it was mostly filmed on-location in London. The film delves into different aspects of love as shown through 10 separate stories involving a variety of individuals, many of whom are interlinked as the plot progresses. The story begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place in the New Year.
Working Title Films Limited is a British film studio that produces motion pictures and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a division of Comcast. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. Bevan and Eric Fellner are now the co-chairmen of the company.
Nine Months is a 1995 American romantic comedy film produced, written and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, Tom Arnold, Joan Cusack, Jeff Goldblum and Robin Williams. It is a remake of the French film, Neuf mois, and served as Grant's first US starring role. It was filmed on location in the San Francisco Bay Area. The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer. It was released on July 12, 1995, and received mixed reviews from critics, grossing $138 million worldwide.
Little Women is a 1994 American coming-of-age historical drama film directed by Gillian Armstrong. The screenplay by Robin Swicord is based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868–69 two-volume novel of the same title, the fifth feature film adaptation of the classic story. After a limited release on December 25, 1994, it was released nationwide four days later by Columbia Pictures.
Michael Cormac Newell is an English film and television director and producer. He won the BAFTA for Best Direction for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), which also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, and directed the films Donnie Brasco (1997) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).
Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! is a 1994 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic drama film written and directed by Sooraj Barjatya and produced by Rajshri Productions. The film stars Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan and celebrates Indian wedding traditions by means of a story of a married couple and the relationship between their families; a story about sacrificing one's love for one's family. The basic plot is based on the studio's earlier film Nadiya Ke Paar (1982), which was based on Keshav Prasad Mishra's Hindi novel Kohbar Ki Shart. The film features music by Raamlaxman who also composed a 14-song soundtrack, an unusually large number of songs for that period.
The 48th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on 9 April 1995 at the London Palladium in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 1994. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 1994.
Hugh Grant is an English actor. His career spans four decades. He has been recognised as an international film star since 1994, and has received a Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award. His films have collectively grossed more than $2.4 billion worldwide.
An Awfully Big Adventure is a 1995 British coming-of-age film directed by Mike Newell. The story concerns a girl who joins a local repertory theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of Peter Pan, the play quickly turns into a dark metaphor for youth as she becomes drawn into a web of sexual politics and intrigue.
The 15th London Film Critics Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 1994, were announced by the London Film Critics Circle in 1995.
Four Weddings and a Funeral is an American romantic comedy television miniseries, based on the 1994 British film of the same name written by Richard Curtis. The miniseries, which premiered on July 31, 2019 on Hulu, was created by Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton. It stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Nikesh Patel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Brandon Mychal Smith, and John Reynolds.
References
1 2 BBC Radio 4 – The Reunion – Four Weddings and a Funeral, 13 April 2014
↑ Klady, Leonard (14 November 1994). "Exceptions are the rule in foreign B.O.". Variety. p.7.
↑ "International box office". Variety. 13 June 1994. p.18.
↑ "International box office". Variety. 26 September 1994. p.14.
↑ "Top 10 B.O. Films Down Under 1994". Variety. 1 May 1995. p.OZ8.
↑ "World's Champs & Chumps". Variety. 13 February 1995. p.7.
↑ Lovell, Glenn (25 December 1994). "The Past Picture Show the Good, the Bad and the Ugly – a Year Worth's of Movie Memories". San Jose Mercury News (Morning Finaled.). p.3.
↑ Vadeboncoeur, Joan (8 January 1995). "Critically Acclaimed Best Movies of '94 Include Works from Tarantino, Burton, Demme, Redford, Disney and Speilberg". Syracuse Herald American (Finaled.). p.16.
↑ Hurley, John (30 December 1994). "Movie Industry Hit Highs and Lows in '94". Staten Island Advance. p.D11.
↑ P. Means, Sean (1 January 1995). "'Pulp and Circumstance' After the Rise of Quentin Tarantino, Hollywood Would Never Be the Same". The Salt Lake Tribune (Finaled.). p.E1.
↑ MacCambridge, Michael (22 December 1994). "it's a LOVE-HATE thing". Austin American-Statesman (Finaled.). p.38.
↑ King, Dennis (25 December 1994). "SCREEN SAVERS In a Year of Faulty Epics, The Oddest Little Movies Made The Biggest Impact". Tulsa World (Final Homeed.). p.E1.
↑ Pickle, Betsy (30 December 1994). "Searching for the Top 10... Whenever They May Be". Knoxville News-Sentinel. p.3.
↑ Arnold, William (30 December 1994). "'94 Movies: Best and Worst". Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Finaled.). p.20.
↑ Elliott, David (25 December 1994). "On the big screen, color it a satisfying time". The San Diego Union-Tribune (1, 2ed.). p.E=8.
↑ Denerstein, Robert (1 January 1995). "Perhaps It Was Best to Simply Fade to Black". Rocky Mountain News (Finaled.). p.61A.
↑ Mills, Michael (30 December 1994). "It's a Fact: 'Pulp Fiction' Year's Best". The Palm Beach Post (Finaled.). p.7.
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