'Four Weddings and a Funeral' Turns 25
It may be hard to believe, but the classic British rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral was released in the U,S. twenty-five years ago this week. It turns out that the film that made Hugh Grant a star, not to mention a Golden Golden Globe and BAFTA winner, was never expected to be a hit by anyone involved.
Penned by TV sitcom writer Richard Curtis (Blackadder and Mr. Bean) and helmed by Enchanted April director Mike Newell, Four Weddings was the embodiment of “the little film that could.” Made in six weeks on a budget the studio cut to less than £3 million, the intial screening was reportedly disastrous. At least according to Hugh Grant, who reminiscend about it during a 2006 SAG-AFTRA interview.
"I thought we'd screwed it up. When we went to watch a rough cut, all of us, me, Richard Curtis, Mike Newell, the producers, all thought this was the worst film that's ever been perpetrated. We're gonna go and emigrate to Peru when it comes out so no one can actually find us. And then they had a, a few cuts later they took it to Santa Monica for a test screening and everyone loved it. And it was a great surprise.
Eventually this quirky little movie became the highest-grossing British film in history at the time by raking in $245.7 million worldwide. It found critical success as well, receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
Four Weddings and a Funeral featured an ensemble cast who portrayed their overwhelmingly upper-class characters as endearingly self-deprecating bumblers - as only the English can do. We didn’t know what they did for a living or indeed how most of them even knew one another. We just cheerfully tagged along with Charles (Grant) and his friends through eighteen months of less-than-perfect nuptials and one very sad farewell to a larger-than-life character.
At this point in time, a recap might be in order:
The action begins with the wedding of Angus (Timothy Walker) and Laura (Sara Crowe). Best man Charles is chronically late and woefully unprepared. Fortunately his buddies have his back and his quirky flat mate Scarlett (the late Charlotte Coleman) saves the day.
