Synopsis
Charlie (Hugh Grant) is always the best man but never the groom. Determined to avoid even a hint of commitment, this handsome English gentleman is notoriously late to every wedding. But today he’s in for a real surprise because not only did he forget the ring… but he also just caught a glimpse of the girl of his dreams (Andie MacDowell).
Director Mike Newell has a knack for developing love between characters. He served up some strong characters with the fourth Harry Potter film and dished out characters that were connected to a disastrous story in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The moral of this story: Mike Newell knows how to make characters work and knows how to make them connect with their audience. With that said, it’s no surprise that he made Four Weddings and a Funeral work so well, even with Andie MacDowell’s stale acting. His ability to take seven different characters and create, bloom and finish their stories perfectly makes him one of the best jugglers in the history of film. Keep in mind that he did all of this in 118 minutes, which is just freaking brilliant.
Outside of the character development, Newell and writer Richard Curtis put together a story that is both charming and deep at the same time. Literally about four weddings and, regretfully, one funeral, the story brings a very lighthearted view of a close circle of friends who just want to end up happy in their own way. Led by Hugh Grant’s Charlie, who is trying to avoid getting married, the story pushes forward through his charm and wit, which never fails. This movie propelled Grant’s career and really showed off how funny he can be, but also a showed a very romantic side to his acting persona. While the end of the film is pretty predictable, the journey Charlie takes to get there is nonetheless engaging and fun, even upon replay.
Is the movie perfect? It has one helluva cast to try to keep it together, featuring the likes of Kristin Scott Thomas, John Hannah and Mr. Beam himself, Rowan Atkinson. The only imperfection was the casting of Andie MacDowell. Now, let me just say before you think I’m a MacDowell hater, she has her place in roles. She has talent in acting, but I’m not quite sure it’s a supporting role. She speaks her lines in a very emotionless, monotone manner that really doesn’t make her character believable. I would have chosen someone else to be the love interest of Grant, but the movie is made already and it is what it is. Twenty years from now when Hollywood remakes it they can choose someone else. Until then, she’s the only downer in the film.
Now, in regards to the Blu-ray quality, it’s pretty good. While there are moments of graininess in the picture, and more so in the darker/cloudier shots, when the sun is shining and the bright colors are a bloom on film the HD truly comes alive. There is some color banding, but for the most part the graininess/artifacts are the biggest issues. When red, or any other bright color hits the screen it looks gorgeous. This certainly does outshine its DVD cousin, but it isn’t the best re-released film I’ve seen transferred to HD. For a film that did well in the box office, and even in awards, this deserved just a bit better. Nonetheless, the picture still looks very good.
On the feature side of things, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Audio Commentary
– Deleted Scenes
– The Wedding Planners Documentary
– Four Weddings and a Funeral: In The Making
– Two Actors and a Director
You’ve seen these features before, but they’re nonetheless entertaining. You get some fine perspective out of the audio commentary, and good insight. The deleted scenes can be lived without. The three featurettes are well done, and extend the personality and life of this already good film. All in all, a pretty good set of features.