Genre Grandeur – Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) – MovieRob

For this month’s first review for Genre Grandeur – Realistic Films, here’s a review of Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) by me.

Thanks again to Prime Six for choosing this month’s interesting and unique genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Diego of Lazy Sunday Movies. We will be reviewing our favorite Psychological thrillers.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Oct by sending them to psychodiego@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice Diego!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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When Prime Six first suggested this genre, I was quite excited because it’s such an amazingly unique choice and it’s even more subjective than most other genres.  Most genre’s deal with something that personifies the story of the film itself, but this one solely has to do with how each and every person perceives a particular film. I decided to choose 5 movies that I believe are extremely realistic and each one falls into a completely different “normal” genre.  My first choice is from the genre of romantic comedies…

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“Oh, I don’t know, Charlie. Unlike you, I never expected “the thunderbolt.” I always just hoped that, that I’d meet some nice friendly girl, like the look of her, hope the look of me didn’t make her physically sick, then pop the question and, um, settle down and be happy. It worked for my parents. Well, apart from the divorce and all that. ” – Tom

Number of Times Seen – Between 5-10 times (Numerous times on video and DVD, 11 June 2009, Dec 2010 and 22 Sep 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A single man who seems to be a committed lifelong bachelor meets a beautiful woman at a friend’s wedding and over the course of four more events tries to come to terms with what this new found feeling.

My Take on it – When I think of a realistic Romantic Comedy, this movie is one of the first ones that comes to mind because when I first a wit back in 1994, it spoke so clearly to me and my friends who were going through similar times in our lives.

This film truly captures the ides of love, relationships, commitment and of course the kind of friendship one has while being part of a group of singles.

I have always love dthe cast of this film and I would find oit so hard to imagin ehaving anyone els ein any of the main roles; it just wouldn’t feel the same IMHO.

Supposedly, Alan Rickman was originally suppose to be the lead instead of Hugh Grant, but as much as I love Rickman, he just wouldn’t have been as effective here as Hugh Grant was in the lead.

This film keeps the balance between romance, humor and of course realism throughout and it helps keep a normal balance that is so comfortable to get drawn into.

The scene where Grant’s character is seated at a wedding with his ex-girlfriends is so classic that my friends and I dubbed the act of being in a situation where you talk about an ex without realizing they are actually there as a 4 Weddings situation.

It actually happened to me once where I was at a meal with my then-girlfriend and her adopted family and we discussed our worst dates and I mentioned mine; suffice it to say, the girl I had that terrible date with was at that table, but I didn’t recognize her after having met her once 3 years prior.  Suffice it to say, I was quite embarrassed 😦

The funniest scene of course was the second wedding when Rowen Atkinson plays the priest.  If you aren’t familiar, check it out here:

There are so many iconic perfect scenes in this film; some will make you laugh, some cry, soime both.

This film definately deserved its Best Picture Nomination that year.

1994 is one of my favorite Oscar Best Picture years because all five nominees were spectacular.

Here is how I would order them:

The Shawshank Redemption

Forrest Gump

Pulp Fiction

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Quiz Show

I’m not too surprised that it couldn’t win that year. 😦

I love the theme song from this film and it always brings me close to tears when I hear Wet Wet Wet sing Love is all around

Here are two clips of it:

Bottom Line – Amazing film that really captures the idea of love, commitment and of course friendship.  The cast is superb and I don’t think anyone could have played these characters any better than the ones finally cast.  The film has the perfect balance between romance, comedy and realism that helps keep it grounded the whole way through.  Rowen Atkinson as the priest in the second wedding will always be the best scene, but the entire film has so many iconic moments ingrained into it.  Definitely deserving of the Best Picture Nomination that year, but it had really tough competition and as great as it is, it still only ranks #4 for me among the 5 nominees. Excellent Theme song by Wet Wet Wet. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Inspiration for the film came when writer Richard Curtis was flipping through some old diaries and realized that he had been to 72 weddings in 10 years. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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11 June 2009