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Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow, James Fleet ... see more see more... , John Hannah , Corin Redgrave , Charlotte Coleman , David Bower , Rowan Atkinson , Anna Chancellor , John Abbott , Rosalie Crutchley , Ken Drury , Elspet Gray , Kenneth Griffith , Ronald Herdman , Mark James , Jeremy Kemp , Robert Lang , Emily Morgan , Neville Phillips , Struan Rodger , Pat Starr , Bernice Stegers , Sophie Thompson , Philip Voss , Susanna Hamnett , Richard Butler , David Haig , Nigel Hastings , Robin McCaffrey , Michael Mears , Rupert Vansittart , Richard Allen , Paul Stacey , Susan Lucci

This acclaimed British comedy centers on the intermittent romance between a charming (if slightly bumbling) Englishman and a beautiful American woman, who seem to always run into each other at wedding... read more read more...s. Indeed, it is at the first of the title's four weddings that Charles (Hugh Grant) and Carrie (Andie McDowell) meet, enjoying a brief but fleeting connection. The spark is rekindled several months later, when they unexpectedly meet at another wedding. Unfortunately, however, Carrie has become engaged to another, a fact that complicates matters for them both. The story may seem simple, but the film is elevated by screenwriter Richard Curtis' ear for witty dialogue and a colorful supporting cast. Director Mike Newell's sympathetic attention to character keeps the proceedings believable, and prevents the film's more serious moments from seeming mawkish. These elements, along with Grant's star-making performance as Charles, helped the film achieve unexpected international success, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

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68% liked it

165,091 ratings

Critics

96% liked it

52 critics

R, 1 hr. 56 min.

Directed by: Mike Newell

Release Date: March 9, 1994

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DVD Release Date: September 7, 1999

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Stats: 4,938 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,938)

  • FiLmCrAzY
    February 6, 2012
    FiLmCrAzY
    I have now watched this movie twice and i still don't understand why this movie is rated high.
    Yes it has a huge, wonderful cast and Richard Curtis is a delightful writer, however this movie is just boring and predictable from the start. you really don't have to watch the whole t... read morewo hours of this movie in order to know where its going and whats its about.
    If this is the best of British Comedy then i'd be very worried!

    A mediocre movie, an obvious plot but a good cast and funny moments.
  • blkbomb
    September 29, 2011
    blkbomb
    Carrie: I think we both missed a great opportunity here. 

    "Five good reasons to stay single."

    Four Weddings and a Funeral is a pretty good film when it comes to romantic comedies. It, however, didn't really suit my taste. I laughed here and there. I was able to enjoy some cleve... read morer dialogue. I easily sat through the whole thing. But I can't really say whether I liked it or not. I will say I liked it more than most romantic comedies.

    As far as the cast goes, Hugh Grant was decent. Simon Callow was terrific. Rowan Atkinson was there, which is never a good thing. Andie McDowell was bad and Kristin Scott Penn wasn't used as well as she could have been. The movie is obviously split up into five gatherings, four of which being weddings and one is a funeral; surprise, surprise. At each of the social gatherings Charles and Carrie run into each other. In ways the film reminds me of a inferior When Harry Met Sally. They connect the first time they meet, but go their separate ways, just to meet again. Then they go their separate ways again. It's all very predictable, but still not horrible.

    What does make this better than the standard romantic comedy is the that the movie does have clever dialogue and did make me laugh here and there. It was relentlessly funny, but it was just enough. The dialogue fits Hugh Grant to perfection. It's just a shame that some of it has to come out of Andie McDowells mouth. I don't hate her nearly as much as some, but her performance really took away from this becoming a great film. Overall it's not as spectacular as I was lead to believe, but it is passable. 
  • CloudStrife84
    August 4, 2011
    CloudStrife84
    Laughter, tears and everything in between. A delightful British drama-comedy, brilliantly directed by the eminent Mike Newell. Besides the engaging romance found within its core, it also has a great sense of humor that works every time. Another terrific element is the cast and ch... read morearacters, featuring - among many other wonderful actors - Hugh Grant at the top of his talent. I wish they made more films like this, because it's quite rare for me to enjoy a rom-com this much. A genuine pleasure from beginning to end, that has a lot to say about the essence of life. See it or you might regret that you didn't.
  • fernandorafael
    July 3, 2011
    fernandorafael
    As a pleasant Saturday-afternoon diversion, it succeeds. As a comedy, it doesn't. Not to the point where it's annoying or uncomfortable, but Four Weddings and a Funeral is simply not funny. But it's cute enough, and very well-constructed and written. Quirky wedding hijinks are am... read moreusing, but it's the cast that makes this film a classic. For the first (and last) time, Hugh Grant does something that remotely resembles acting. James Fleet, Kristin Scott Thomas and Charlotte Coleman do a nice job. But the best performance is that of John Hannah. The funeral from the title is incredibly moving thanks to Hannah's award-worthy performance. On the other hand, Andie McDowell is the blandest actress I've ever seen (and a terrible casting mistake).
  • murphmann93
    June 24, 2011
    murphmann93
    Quite funny!
  • imrealgod
    May 15, 2011
    imrealgod
    I'm not saying that the movie sucks. It's a passable comedy film with good actors giving average performance, but I didn't find it outstanding or exceptionally great (as I was led to expect by its high rating).
  • matertenebraum
    February 10, 2011
    matertenebraum
    Richard Curtis's films have sometimes been criticised for giving a too cosy, conservative view of British society. "Four Weddings and a Funeral" seems to take place in an England of eternal summer, a land which consists almost entirely of green and pleasant countryside and the mo... read morere exclusive districts of London and which is populated solely by members of the upper and upper-middle classes. The script does cross the border into an equally idealised Scotland of mists, tartans and Highland flings, but even these scenes were actually shot in Surrey. Such criticism contains an element of truth, but is largely irrelevant when it comes to assessing the merits of the film because it ignores the fact that most romantic comedies (in other media as well as in the cinema) are set against a relatively narrow background in terms of social class, often enabling the writer to satirise the manners of that class. Jane Austin, for example, the most successful writer of romantic comedy in nineteenth-century England, set all her works among the wealthy landed gentry or prosperous bourgeoisie of the day.

    Most of the action of the film takes place either at, or immediately before or after, one of the four church services mentioned in the title. The main character, Charles, is a well-to-do young man, probably educated at public school, and clearly a member of the professional classes, although we never actually discover what his job is. The film starts with a wedding at which Charles is best man to Angus, one of his old friends, and at which he meets Carrie, an attractive young American woman. The film then traces the ups and downs of the relationship of Charles and Carrie, via two more weddings (the second of which is Carrie's own, after she and Charles have split up), the funeral of Gareth, another friend of Charles who suffers a heart attack while dancing at Carrie's wedding, and one final marriage ceremony.

    Hugh Grant, as Charles, gives a very good performance. Grant has a relatively narrow range as an actor, but he is capable of some excellent work within that range. There are some subtle differences between Charles and William, the character Grant played in "Notting Hill", another romantic comedy written by Curtis. William is a shy young man who uses ironic, self-deprecating humour as a cover for his shyness and lack of self-confidence. He is very much in love with Anna, that film's heroine, but is afraid to declare his love because he cannot believe that a beautiful and successful film star would take any interest in the owner of a small bookshop. Charles, by contrast, is less shy than William and enjoys more success with women. His humour is also ironic, but for a different reason. He is afraid of his emotions and of commitment and uses irony as a means of distancing himself from life and of avoiding having to commit himself.

    The film can be seen as the story of Charles's journey to emotional maturity. He has had a number of brief affairs, all of which have petered out precisely because he is afraid of his emotions. His relationship with Carrie initially goes the same way and she marries a richer and older man. The change in Charles's character is partly due to the fact that he sees his carefree bachelor world disappearing as most of his friends get married, but the event which seems to have the greatest effect on him is Gareth's funeral, at which a moving eulogy is read by Matthew, Gareth's gay partner, touchingly played by John Hannah. Charles realises the strength of the love that Gareth and Matthew shared for one another and comes to appreciate that such a relationship is something to be valued.

    Grant does well to make Charles a sympathetic figure, despite his having many failings quite apart from his ironic distancing of himself from the world. He is clumsy, accident-prone (he manages to lose the ring at Angus's wedding), much given to profane language and can be appallingly tactless, especially about his former girlfriends. The other main character, Carrie, can perhaps be seen as a female Charles, someone who is on the same journey as him but who has travelled slightly further. (It is significant that her name is short for Caroline, the feminine equivalent of the name Charles). She freely admits to having had over thirty previous lovers, but she is the first to want to bring emotional commitment to their relationship. Am I, incidentally, the only one to have liked Andie MacDowell's performance?- she has come in for a lot of criticism, in my view undeserved, on this board.

    The film is, however, more than simply a study of relationships- it is also very funny with some superb lines. Hugh Grant can be very amusing, and there was a great cameo from Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling, nervous trainee priest who keeps fluffing his lines during one of the weddings. ("Awful wedded wife", or "Holy Goat" for "Holy Ghost"). I also liked David Bower as Charles's deaf brother David, the late Charlotte Coleman as his impudent younger sister Scarlett and Anna Chancellor as his ex-girlfriend Henrietta (also known as Duckface), whose embarrassing emotional incontinence perhaps explains why Charles is so keen to distance himself from his feelings. I was less impressed by Simon Callow as Gareth, loud, extrovert and excessively hearty (like most characters Callow plays).
  • Deano78
    September 28, 2010
    Deano78
    A pretty good comedy, it kinda set the tone for many others to follow. The wedding and reception scenes are funny. No doubt they will seem familiar and bring back memories for people of their own experiences. Worth a watch.
  • FilmFanatik
    December 21, 2009
    FilmFanatik
    Quite excellent romantic comedy that doesn't try to be a romantic comedy. Just a really good story.
  • movieguru12
    November 11, 2009
    movieguru12
    Really crappy.

View All Four Weddings and a Funeral Reviews

Critic Reviews

Lisa Schwarzbaum
February 3, 2009
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

The infectious charm and sunny goodwill of Four Weddings and a Funeral can so immediately buoy a soul ravaged by winter weather and winter movies. Full Review

Richard Corliss
February 3, 2009
Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

There are movies so breezy, even flimsy, that you can enjoy them as genial providers of an evening's entertainment yet forget all about them by the time you leave the multiplex. Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
February 3, 2009
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

A grocery store would sell this on its generic shelf: the brittle upper-class British cleverness is strictly standard issue. Full Review

Todd McCarthy
December 4, 2008
Todd McCarthy, Variety

Truly beguiling romantic comedy is one of the hardest things for a modern film to pull off, but a winning British team has done it in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

If ever a film resembled a wedding cake it is Four Weddings and a Funeral, a multi-tiered confection with a romantic spirit and an enchantingly pretty veneer. Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

The players, who include Simon Callow, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rowan Atkinson and Sophie Thompson, exude comedic brightness as they go about their gossipy, farcical, self-deprecating, sorry-about-that-o... Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Delightful and sly. Full Review

Megan Rosenfeld
January 1, 2000
Megan Rosenfeld, Washington Post

Some of the funniest scenes bounce off the nightmares of every bride and groom before the wedding. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

The simplest and most honest expression of praise that I can offer Mike Newell's latest movie is that it represents two hours of solid movie magic. Full Review

James Plath
February 11, 2012
James Plath, Movie Metropolis

Conveys everything that is hilariously and poignantly true about the ceremonies we use to tie the knot and bid loved ones farewell. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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    • Henrietta: You see, you're turning into a kind of serial monogamist. One girlfriend after another, yet you never really let anyone near you. On the contrary... You're affectionate to them and sweet to them. Even to me, although you thought I was an idiot.
    • Charles: I did not.
    • Henrietta: You did. I thought U2 was a type of submarine
    • Charles: In a way, you were right. Their music has a naval quality.
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Four Weddings and a Funeral Trivia

  • in four weddings and a funeral: Who were the first couple to get married?  Answer »
  • Charles: How do you do, my name is Charles. Old man: Don't be ridiculous, Charles died 20 years ago! Charles: Must be a different Charles, I think. Old man: Are you telling me I don't know my own brother! Charles: No, no.  Answer »
  • What is the name of the second couple to get married in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'?  Answer »
  • An incurable romantic, terrified of commitment and frightened to express his true feelings, falls for an enigmatic American beauty he only seems to meet on social occasions and it takes the sudden death of a close friend to give him the courage at long last to make his move ???  Answer »
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