At a friend’s wedding, an unlucky in love Englishman named Charles (Hugh Grant) meets Carrie (Andie MacDowell), an attractive American, and is instantly smitten.
The two spend a magical night together, but unfortunately, she has to return to the States the next morning, which puts a premature end to their love story… at least until their paths meet again over the course of three more weddings and, yes, a funeral.
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a movie I had been wanting to see for a very long time, but I found that I was more invested in the lives of the secondary characters than the love story between Charles and Carrie, and unfortunately, we don’t get as much insight into them as I would have liked.
The issue is that while we get to know Charles, we don’t really get to see much of Carrie beyond the brief moments Charles spends with her at the weddings and the one funeral. I couldn’t figure out what it was about her that Charles was so besotted with. She was a bit dull, in love (supposedly) with another man whom she had no issue with cheating on… and MacDowell’s delivery was straight up wooden. I simply couldn’t buy into their attraction because I felt very little chemistry between Grant and MacDowell.
Is it wrong I was rooting for Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) and Charles here? I felt as though I had a better grasp on her character than I did MacDowell’s. The relationship between Gareth (Simon Callow) and Matthew (John Hannah) was certainly more romantic and loving and I was absolutely more emotionally invested in their story than I was Carrie and Charles. This just felt like one of those movies where my interest waned whenever Carrie was on screen. Given this movie is almost always on lists of the best rom-coms ever made, I truly did expect way more romance. Instead, this was essentially a vehicle for Hugh Grant, which is totally fine. He’s always had plenty of charisma and charm on-screen and I truly did enjoy watching Charles interact with his sister and their close-knitted group of friends.
Four Weddings and a Funeral is not my favorite of Hugh Grant’s rom-com resume, but this movie did introduce us to the awkward, bumbling style he’s perfected, so I suppose it was good for something.
