FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL: Blu-ray reissue (Polygram/Gramercy, 1995) Shout! Factory
The movie to
have introduced North American audiences to a cacophony of England’s noteworthy
madcaps and make an international star and heartthrob out of Hugh Grant, Mike
Newell’s Four Weddings and A Funeral
(1994) is a daft and delightful English farce. Can it really be 25 years since
this wacky tale of a gun-shy bachelor and his obtuse gaggle of friends hit our
screens? Apparently so. Budgeted at a paltry £2.8 million, and shot in just six
weeks, this decidedly low-budget comedy gem went on to gross $245.7 million
worldwide. At the time, Four Weddings and
a Funeral was the biggest moneymaker in British history, receiving a slew
of honors and accolades along the way, including 2 Oscar nominations. Screenwriter,
Richard Curtis came up with the idea, based on his own experiences as a chronic
wedding guest. By his own estimate, he had attended some 65 nuptials in just a
little under 11 years; at one of these, propositioned by a female guest, whom
he politely turned down. “I really came
to regret that decision later,” Curtis confided. And although his stand-in,
the fictional Charles (Hugh Grant) does, in fact, take advantage of the offer, his
journey from one-night-stand to happily ever after is fraught with just as many
regrets and heartache. It took Curtis 17 drafts to get the chemistry just right;
his teaming with director, Newell making all the difference, as Newell’s verve
for keeping the situations real, countered Curtis’ broader interest to simply
make everything as ribald as possible. In the end, the balancing act proved
seamless and richly rewarding – a story about real people who just happen to be
terribly funny.
But how fickle
is fate? Even as an early deal to produce the picture fell through, Curtis and
Newell began considering casting choices, starting with the pivotal role of
Charles – the amiable bachelor whose romantic follies fuel the central narrative.
We forget that in 1992, Hugh Grant was a virtual unknown, and, in fact, was
seriously contemplating giving up on his stagnated acting career. The script
for Four Weddings and A Funeral
arrived on his doorstep just in the nick of time, giving him pause to
reconsider. And yet, even after nailing the audition, Curtis voted against
hiring Grant, not because the actor had miserably failed to impress, but rather
because Curtis – who had modeled Charles on himself – could not envision
someone as good-looking as Grant having difficulties finding romance. Due to
this bias, Curtis preferred either Alex Jennings or Alan Rickman – both of whom
he had already auditioned for the part. Eventually, Newell persuaded Curtis to
see to reason and Grant was cast in the life-altering role that would
ultimately propel him into super-stardom. It could so easily have gone the
other way for Grant, whose agent pressed the cash-strapped producers to
consider paying his client £5,000 more than his usual £35,000 salary. Initially,
producer Duncan Kenworthy balked at this request. However, as casting choices
for the lead dwindled, Kenworthy reworked the picture’s finances to accommodate
this payout. Grant stayed in the picture.
To make Hugh
Grant appear less transparently obvious as leading man material, Kenworthy
instructed costumer, Lindy Hemming to provide Charles with slightly gaudy and
ill-fitting clothes, also, to have his hair styled shaggy, adding heavy-rimmed
glasses to suggest a near-sighted stigma. Together, Grant and Newell came up
with the idea of Charles’ chronic stammer; Grant, concentrating on flubbing his
lines, and/or creating pregnant pauses in all the wrong places to affect an endearing
‘shy’ quality. Grant, who grappled with a hellish bout of hay fever throughout
the shoot, later reasoned that, at the time, he thought his performance utterly
atrocious. However, after witnessing the results on the screen, Grant was elated.
Although Newell had appeared to have given Grant bad advice, or, at the very
least, counter-intuitive to “the natural
beats of the comedy”, Grant suddenly realized Newell had grounded his
performance by gilding the comedy with a subtler underlay of truth.
Before a death
in her family forced the actress to withdraw, Jeanne Tripplehorn had been hired
for the part of Carrie, the forthright American who wins Charles heart. Even after Tripplehorn’s departure, model cum
actress, Andie MacDowell was not among the front-runners to replace her;
producers, turning first to Marisa Tomei, then, Sarah Jessica Parker. Neither showed
an interest to partake. Despite her own successful foray into movies, MacDowell
is, arguably, the weakest link in Four
Weddings and a Funeral, at times, grotesquely out of place; the delivery of
her lines, stilted and unintentionally silly. Bluntly put, MacDowell lacks spontaneity.
While the rest of the cast appear to be reacting to their situations as though they
were ‘of the moment’ and happening to them for the very first time, MacDowell’s
elegantly attired woman of the world seems far too rehearsed, to the point
where all casualness has evaporated, her cue cards MacTac’ed to her imagination
and stiffly committed to mere memory. Blessedly, Four Weddings and a Funeral is an ‘English’ show – chalked with a
luscious assortment of great faces and formidable talents, including James
Fleet (as the ineffectual fop, Tom), Simon Callow (the bombastic, Gareth), John
Hannah (his gay lover, Matthew), David Bower (Charles’ hearing-impaired
brother, David) and Kristin Scott Thomas as the irrepressibly brittle, Fiona
(Tom’s emasculating sister).
Herein, we pause
a moment to acknowledge the only member of the cast, tragically no longer with
us; actress, Charlotte Coleman, who died in 2001, age 33, from an acute asthma
attack, and who, as Charles’ brash and dotty sister, Scarlett, made an indelible
impression on movie fans the world over. By her own account, a pre-teen and
teenage hell raiser, and, avid smoker, Coleman’s Scarlett is supremely a born
flirt – her auburn-dyed tresses and diminutive stature, masking a genuine
powerhouse of a performer lurking just beneath the surface. Our introduction to
Scarlett in Four Weddings and a Funeral
is sheer delight – Coleman, reaching over to the total stranger seated next to Scarlett
at the first reception dinner being given, planting a full-on kiss on his lips,
before instructing the startled man, “My
name’s Scarlett. Don’t let me drink too much or I might get flirty!” Coleman’s
death, apart from depriving British cinema of one of its most genuine madcaps,
was a peculiar tragedy; the actress, having spent the previous evening at the
home of her parents, before complaining she felt ‘unwell’ and desiring to
return to her own newly decorated flat in Islington. In the morning, unable to
reach Coleman by telephone, her mother elected to pay a call, discovering Coleman
lifeless on the floor, rushed to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Four Weddings and A Funeral was such a
massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic that to discover it was almost never
made is a bit of a shocker. Still, Newell and Curtis could find no takers after
initial funding fell through. Undaunted, they continued to evolve and pre-plan.
Eventually, producer, Kenworthy convinced Working Title Films to step up to the
plate. Very reluctantly, the shoring of another $1.2 million forced Newell to
scale back his shoot to just 36 days – a breakneck schedule with zero
opportunities for retakes. The budget proved so restrictive, extras were encouraged
to wear their own wedding clothes. Co-star, Rowan Atkinson (already beloved as
the goony Mr. Bean), was kept on as Father Gerald – originally meant to officiate
only at the first wedding – so as to save on the cost of hiring another actor
to play the second Vicar later on. Shooting all over England, Four Weddings and a Funeral would wrap
on time and on budget. Alas, toiling with his editor, John Gregory, Newell’s
first rough-cut of the picture failed to impress. Indeed, Hugh Grant was so
nervous about the results that he jokingly suggested everyone involved in the production
would have to immigrate to Peru to escape their shame. Returning to their editing
suite for only a few minor tweaks, Four
Weddings and A Funeral had its first sneak peek in Santa Monica where, to
even Grant’s surprise, the picture went over with a bang – an instant success.
Even so, Gramercy
Pictures, the U.S. distributor, had pause for concern over what they deemed as
the movie’s objectionable sexual content and explicit language. The repeated
use of the word ‘fuck’ – however, light-heartedly applied – had caused conservative
members of the Mormon City Council in Salt Lake City to walk out. And although
Newell agreed to dub the lines over with the word ‘bugger’ – that other explicatives stayed in. Executives at Gramercy also believed the title, Four Weddings and a Funeral would not
appeal to a male audience. In its place, the studio hoped to convince Newell to
rechristen the picture as ‘True Love and
Near Misses’, ‘Loitering in Sacred Places’, ‘Skulking Around’, or ‘Rolling in the Aisles.’ Mercifully, they
failed to persuade Newell.
In hindsight, Four Weddings and a Funeral is the
perfect English comedy – its off the cuff wit harking all the way back to the
Ealing comedies of the 1940’s, while updating the social mannerisms and mores
to appeal to contemporary audiences. Curtis’ screenplay totters along its dotty
trail of marital mishaps that can make weddings either a supremely joyous
occasion or utterly kooky clap-traps fraught in romantic misfires. Here, we have
an 18-month slice-o’-life in the ongoing sad-eyed saga of a serial monogamist,
Charles. As a man in his early thirties, Charles knows he is expected to marry.
And truly, the opportunities to wed have been presented to him time and again.
Yet, somehow, Charles can never bring himself to the altar. His previous
relationships have all been unqualified disasters. Having broken too many
hearts along the way, it stands to reason Charles has set himself up to have
his own crushed. This, of course, does happen, though not without maturing the
reluctant boy into full-bodied manhood, while promising him a reprieve – or
more astutely – a trade-off for his sacrifice of these youthful anxieties. On
the surface, Four Weddings and A Funeral
is just a jolly good romp through all this misshapen merriment. But beneath the
surface there are clever observations about the subtler art in male/female seduction,
love - discovered by accident, and, having to face the inevitable loss of a
truly good friend; a bittersweet core, tinged in loneliness and lingering, even
after our principle players have all presumably found ever-lasting love.
Charles lives with
his free spirited – also single - sister, Scarlett in a dingy London flat. The
two are chronic procrastinators and prove it when they almost miss the marriage
of Angus (Timothy Walker) and Laura (Sara Crowe), in which Charles is expected
to partake as best man! Bad luck all around, Charles has forgotten the rings.
Never fear. With his menagerie of loyal friends including dimwitted
millionaire, Tom, his cool – if abrupt - sister, Fiona, and, gay couple,
Matthew and Gareth, the day, the hour, and, the moment are saved - barely. At
Angus and Laura's pastoral reception, Charles meets American socialite, Carrie.
She is experienced, witty, enjoys people, and, lives life to its fullest – all
qualities Charles finds engaging. After spending the night with Carrie at a
quaint country inn, aptly titled ‘The Lucky Boatman’, Charles blows his
opportunity to win Carrie’s heart the next morning when she bluntly suggests
that since they have slept together, a proposal of marriage is imminent. Charles’
awkward realization the joke is on him gives Carrie pause to reconsider. The
couple part as friends, but with Carrie inferring they have sincerely missed
out on a great opportunity.
Three months
pass. Carrie and Charles are reunited for the wedding of Bernard (David Haig) and
Lydia (Sophie Thompson), who casually met at Laura and Angus’ wedding. At first,
Charles believes he has been given a second chance at love. But then, Carrie
reveals she has since become engaged to Hamish (Corin Redgrave); a much older, wealthy
Scottish businessman. Carrie further compounds Charles misery by dragging him
to every bridal shop in London on her quest for the perfect wedding dress. Only
Charles' deaf brother, David sees through the ruse. David tells Charles he must
follow his heart before it is too late. However, when one of Charles old flames
– the mentally unstable - Deirdre (Susanna Hamnett) resurfaces, Charles decides
to marry her instead. Two events intercede to save the day. The first is
Carrie's marriage to Hamish. This miserably fails almost from the moment the
two say 'I do'. The second is the
unexpected death of Gareth from a heart attack. This forces Charles and all his
friends to reassess the brevity of life and love, ergo - life without love is
no life at all. Meanwhile, Fiona confesses to Charles she has always harbored a
secret affection for him. Quite aware he does not reciprocate it, Fiona softens
in her usual brittle resolve, hoping Charles’ pending marriage to Deirdre will at
least make one of them happy. Only now,
Carrie arrives at the church moments before the ceremony.
Carrie confesses
she has left Hamish. Their timing again off, Charles grasps he cannot marry Deirdre.
And yet, he intends to go through with the wedding. Mercifully, David
intercedes, informing the bridal party via sign language that he suspects the
groom is having second thoughts – that the groom is in love with another. As
Charles can no longer deny his true feelings, he confesses as much and is
promptly knocked unconscious by the bride-never-to-be. A short while later, Charles and his friends
are gathered together at Matthew’s flat where Charles is nursing his black eye.
There is a knock at the door. Carrie is standing in the rain. She pours her
heart out to Charles and he reciprocates his truest feelings towards her. The
couple decide ‘not’ to get married, but rather, begin their lives anew as a
couple. In the movie’s penultimate montage of still photographs, we discover virtually
all of these good friends have eventually found happiness in their various
relationships; the cream of the jest – a snapshot of Fiona, with an adoringly
fixed gaze, standing next to Prince Charles, looking very solemn indeed.
Four Weddings and a Funeral is an inspired
ensemble comedy. Its humor is as wry as ever; its characters, straight out of
Emily Post's ‘how not to conduct yourself
at a wedding’ guidebook. What makes the movie work spectacularly well is
Hugh Grant’s Charles. Despite his considerable flaws, and a casual wardrobe
that would make Mr. Blackwell throw up, Grant’s innate charisma, shy and retiring,
with a twinkle of petty larceny caught in his eye, is the perfect male pin-up
for this ribald English sex comedy. The rest of the cast do their part; some,
like the aforementioned Charlotte Coleman, striking an indelible chord, in
spite of being given only brief moments to shine. Apart from Grant, Kristin
Scott Thomas’ post ‘Four Weddings…’ career was to benefit most; the actress,
appearing in such high-profile smash hits as Mission Impossible and The
English Patient (both in 1996), The
Horse Whisperer (1998) and Gosford
Park (2001). Grant’s meteoric rise as everyone’s favorite heartthrob was
swift and assured, appearing in period costume and contemporary comedies, Sense and Sensibility, Nine Months, and, in support in the
period drama, Restoration (all in
1995); also, the highly effective medical thriller, Extreme Measures (1996); his first tenure, capped off with the
ebullient, Notting Hill (1999),
something of a ‘Four Weddings…’ in reverse. Ironically, Grant’s brief
incarceration, charged with procuring a Hollywood hooker for oral sex in 1995,
did not invoke a downturn in his popularity with movie audiences; although,
shortly after Notting Hill, Grant’s
on-camera persona was to morph from lovable leading men to arrogant bastards we
loved to hate, like Daniel Cleaver in Bridget
Jones’ Diary (2001). Grant has never quite been able to shake off this
stigma. If his then gal/pal, super model, Elizabeth Hurley, never quite forgave
him this indiscretion, the public did, and has continued to do so ever since.
Viewing Four Weddings and a Funeral
today, reminds us how well Grant could play the innocent;
just a shy and retiring bloke who had trouble finding the right girl.
Shout! Factory’s
‘select series’ 25th anniversary Blu-ray of Four Weddings and a Funeral is an interesting ‘surprise’. Advertised as being remastered in 4K from the original
camera negative, the image does snap together with bolder colors. Oddly, fine detail
is only marginally improved when directly compared to MGM/Fox’s Blu-ray release
from 2008. Where this remaster does show its props: first, in correcting the
marginal gate weave that once afflicted the main titles. This has been
eradicated (although the accompanying and very nasty edge effects remain).
Also, age-related nicks and chips have been digitally removed. While marginal
wear and tear sporadically crops up, most of this transfer is free of its
inclusion. However, an even greater anomaly persists: during the montage at
Bernard and Lydia’s wedding, the scene depicting an inept Tom repeatedly walking
in front of the wedding photographer, trying to immortalize the happy couple,
there is a sudden, and inexplicable loss, of both color density and saturation.
Directly
comparing this scene with the old Blu master from 2008, no such problems intrude.
Actually, colors on the old Blu are considerably more robust in this scene than
on Shout!’s remastered edition. Exactly what happened this time around to so
badly bleach out the color scheme remains open for discussion. The 5.1 DTS
audio is virtually identical to the previously mastered Blu. Extras, save one, are all directly imported
from the aforementioned MGM/Fox release; the one exception - ‘The
Wedding Photographer’, an insightful interview with Director of
Photography, Michael Coulter. For the rest, expect the same audio commentary
from Newell, producer, Duncan Kenworthy and Richard Curtis, plus, ‘The
Wedding Planners’ featurette, a ‘making
of’, another backstory on casting the movie, some deleted scenes, promos
and a theatrical trailer. None of these have been upgraded and are in 480i,
looking careworn and severely dated. Bottom line: if you are buying this 25th
anniversary Blu-ray reissue for new extra content, save your money. If you are
buying it to improve the overall image quality of the feature – then yes, by all
means, double dip. Just be aware, this 4K remaster is not reference quality: a
genuine shame and something of a real mystery to boot. Judge and buy
accordingly.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
3.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
3.5
EXTRAS
2
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