OVP: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Film: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Stars: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Charlotte Coleman, James Fleet, Simon Callow, John Hannah, Kristin Scott Thomas, David Bower
Director: Mike Newell
Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Once upon a time, there were Oscar races where only five films would be nominated for Best Picture.  In this rare and magical land, genres like biopics, adult dramas, and epics reigned supreme in the Best Picture race.  So, when a genre like romantic comedy managed to get into the race, it was a cause worth celebrating regardless of your feelings of the film.  Thankfully, this particular movie managed to both defy convention and be superb, so I now give you the latest installment in our Wedding Week reviews, Four Weddings and a Funeral.

(Spoilers Ahead) Proving that it's a good idea not to false advertise in your own title, the film does indeed include four weddings and a funeral, and since that's enough life events to fill any film, there is little in-between in that regard (there's basically only one scene that doesn't include one of these five life events).  The film revolves around a motley group of friends that keep getting invited to the same weddings (something that we're all familiar with at some time in our lives), led by Charles (Grant).  The opening wedding confuses a bit, when we assume that Grant is in a relationship with Charlotte Coleman's Scarlett (I feel like they may have been just roommates or cousins...I missed that one before I sealed the Netflix envelope).  Slowly, though, we find that the handsome and bumbling Charles (Grant's been doing this schtick for decades now, but it's easy to see why we wanted him to with this charming take) is single, and is totally taken with an American woman named Carrie (MacDowell).  Throughout the night, when he succeeds in going to bed with her, and subsequent weddings, we see that they are destined to be together, but like any strong romantic comedy, fate keeps pulling them apart.

The film's format works well with the story, as we're constantly surrounded by the pressures that both Charles and Carrie are facing.  The group of friends, sans two gay characters, are all single, but can see quite readily that their lives are about to change, one way or another.  A lot of romantic comedies show the pressures of one person to fall in love and find "the one."  Richard Curtis's (while Newell directed the film, Curtis wrote it and you can feel him effervescing from the movie) films typically take a different approach.  He frequently will fill his movies with a series of lovable friends, constantly devoted to each other but watching at least a few of the others in the group with a bit of worry-will they end up the spinster/eternal bachelor?  You can feel that pressure in particular from MacDowell's Carrie. She seems like a relatively independent woman, but the way that she quickly jumps into the third marriage (one that of course has to break up for us to get our happy ending) and how she bends her personality to fit this marriage give us an idea of how sick she is of being called "always the bridesmaid."

It's these darker, more complicated tones that makes Curtis's romantic comedies so rewatchable and true.  Films like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually all have their chief following because they're gooey and delicious (and Curtis is one of those rare directors who can still make a quality romantic comedy), but there's also a nugget of truth and bitterness in them.  I keep remembering the Keira Knightley card scene in Love Actually (another woman who is being pursued while married), and how bitter that scene truly is, where Andrew Lincoln has to confess his love to move on with his life, knowing that he won't get the girl.  Or the Anna Scott dinner table scene, where we get the less sunny version of a movie star's life.  Curtis's screenplay here isn't afraid to give us the bitter with the sweet, and as a result, we get a more satisfying conclusion-these two lovers have had to struggle, and won't have a perfect life, but they will have one that is complete.

The movie is littered with fun and over-the-map in terms of quality performances.  My favorite by far (Grant took second) was Kristin Scott Thomas's snarky, bitter Fiona.  Every line that comes out of her mouth is pure acid, and the way that she hides her secret love for Charles (finally confessing it in a scene that was both awkward and pin-drop watchable), you get a sense of the woman that has existed in his life for years, ever knowing that she wouldn't be his.  Though she wouldn't have her major star turn until a few years later in The English Patient, I'm still surprised that in a relatively odd field (Jennifer Tilly got that Oscar nomination, still one of the most surprising slots of the 90's) that Scott Thomas couldn't translate a BAFTA win into something with Oscar.  Then again, the women's acting races of those years are bizarre because of the lack of contenders, and I am really looking forward to us tackling them in the OVP.

Andie MacDowell is the other big name in this movie, though it's hard to quite remember just how big of a star she was at the time.  I wasn't old enough to really understand movies and star-power in 1994, but doesn't it feel odd that no one talks about MacDowell anymore?  She received three Globe nominations in the span of five years (without any translating to Oscar, which we know is exceedingly rare), was in an enormous hit with Four Weddings, and even won an Honorary Cesar at a very young age, but her career has vanished since then.  People at least still talk about Meg Ryan, but MacDowell people pretend never happened.  She's now in Cedar Cove as main character Olivia Lockhart, but doesn't it feel like she should have had a longer career in the spotlight?

Or perhaps not, because that only makes sense on paper.  In this film, my first major foray into her acting ability, I was incredibly underwhelmed.  While she's gorgeous, that's about all she adds to this film-her line readings lack any sort of spark, and you are left wondering whether Charles is terribly shallow and stupid for picking Carrie over the vivacious (and also beautiful) Fiona.  I know myself personally I would have easily headed over to Kristin Scott Thomas (this might not be a fair comparison though, as KST trumps almost everyone in my world), and the film doesn't quite know what to do with MacDowell's American Venus, but MacDowell's dull performance isn't helping matters.

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  Where do you land on this now nearly twenty-year-old film, and for those old enough, were you surprised that it made the Best Picture race?  Anyone prefer it to Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump?  And what Andie MacDowell performance will make me fall in love with her?  Share in the comments!