Cat.no: 047 808 2

Cert: 15

Running time: 112 minutes

Year: 1994

Pressing: 1998

Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)

Chapters: 21 plus extras

Sound: MPEG Stereo Surround

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Dutch

Fullscreen: 4:3

16:9-enhanced: No

Macrovision: Yes

Price: £17.99

Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Biographies, Filmographies, Music promo - Love Is All Around (Wet Wet Wet).

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Director:

Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco, Into The West, Enchanted April, The Good Father)

Producer:

Duncan Kenworthy

Screenplay:

Richard Curtis (Bean, The Tall Guy, TV: "Black Adder", "Mr. Bean", "Not The Nine O'Clock News")

Music:

Richard Rodney Bennett

Cast:

Charles: Hugh Grant (Bitter Moon, The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain, Extreme Measures, Impromptu, Nine Months, The Remains Of The Day, Restoration, Sense And Sensibility, Sirens)
Carrie: Andie MacDowell (Bad Girls, The End Of Innocence, Green Card, Groundhog Day, Michael, Multiplicity, Ruby Cairo, Short Cuts)
Gareth: Simon Callow (Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls, The Good Father, James And The Giant Peach, A Room With A View, TV: "Chance In A Million", "Inspector Morse")
Matthew: John Hannah (The Innocent Sleep, TV: "The Final Cut", "McCallum")
Scarlett: Charlotte Coleman (The Young Poisoner's Handbook, TV: "Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit")
Father Gerald: Rowan Atkinson (Bean, The Tall Guy, TV: "Black Adder", "Mr. Bean", "Not The Nine O'Clock News", "The Thin Blue Line")
Henrietta: Anna Chancellor (Staggered, TV: "Kavanagh Q.C.")
Fiona: Kristin Scott-Thomas (Angels And Insects, Autobus, Bitter Moon, The Confessional, The English Patient, Mission: Impossible, Richard III, Under The Cherry Moon, TV: "Gulliver's Travels")
Tom: James Fleet (TV: "Underworld", "The Vicar Of Dibley")
David: David Bower
Laura the Bride: Sara Crowe (Carry On Columbus, Caught In The Act, TV adverts : "Philadelphia")
Hamish: Corin Redgrave (Anthony And Cleopatra, The Ice House, Persuasion)

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Charles tries very hard not to fall in love with her through one funeral and three more weddings (one of which is very awkwardly hers!). Until he finally finds himself standing at the altar on his own wedding day.

At last he knows who he wants to spend the rest of his life with... but it's not the woman standing next to him in the white dress!

One of the problems I have with this film is that it just isn't as funny as most people would have you believe. Sure, it does have some classic moments, but isn't a laugh-a-minute epic as it was made out to be.

One of the best moments is the opening scene in which Charles has to get to the church on time for the first wedding with Scarlett, the shock of getting up late being accompanied by an endless string of "fuck" exclamations, culminating in a "bugger". For language reasons, the airline version replaces all the "fuck"s with "bugger"s, which is strange since I'd imagine the latter is far more painful, not to mention illegal...

Hugh Grant is the best thing about the film and is given the best funny lines, although after his profile was raised thanks to this film, it was brought back to Earth with a bang (literally) when he was caught with American hooker Divine Brown. His next film, another comedy called Nine Months was advertised with a poster showing co-star Julianne Moore whispering something into Hugh Grant's ear. Billboards around the USA were doctored with a speech bubble saying: "That'll be $25 please!".

Andie MacDowell provides the love interest, but does little more other than bat her eyelids and speak with a southern twang to her voice. Simon Callow and John Hannah provide the male love-interests, being partners, plus further love-interests come in the form of Anna Chancellor and a wedding at the start for Sara Crowe, best-known in the UK for her appearance in the "Philadelphia cream cheese" TV adverts.

Rowan Atkinson is fine at times as the bungling trainee priest, especially in his early scenes when Kristin Scott Thomas draws comparisons between getting married and losing one's virginity, but I didn't warm to his scenes of cocking up his first wedding ceremony.

The cast is fleshed-out with Charlotte Coleman who doesn't seem to have aged a day since I first saw her on TV many years ago, plus James Fleet, one of the stars of last year's excellent Channel 4 comedy-drama Underworld, David Bower and Corin Redgrave.

The picture quality is almost excellent, with some minor artifacts noticeable on static areas but only if you're really looking at them, so for most people these will go by unnoticed. It's a shame this film is presented in fullscreen as it is is pan-and-scan as opposed to open-matte so you'll lose approximately 28% of the original picture.

The sound on the disc is MPEG Stereo Surround and is clear, but such a film is hardly an explosion-fest surround-sound-spectacular, so is mainly used for directional effects and ambience.

Extras :

Chapters/Trailer :

For some reason you can't fast-forward through a particular chapter though as it causes the DVD-ROM drive to lock up - a problem I don't have on any other disc. Dead Man Walking will allow this, but has a similar problem by not allowing you to move to next or previous chapter.

Cast and Production Notes :

Also Available :

Languages :

The disc contains English, French and Spanish language soundtracks, plus subtitles for the same and Dutch. Even with the subtitles turned off, they kick in for the hand-signing scene involving Charles telling his deaf brother how badly things are going.

Menu :

The interactive menu is better here than on most titles with a click of the mouse doing exactly what is required, unlike some other titles I have reviewed.

Another thing to note is that on playing the disc you can't skip past the Polygram logo and copyright info.

Four Weddings and a Funeral is definitely one of Polygram's showcase films. Not only was it the most profitable British film before The Full Monty took over, but it has appeared on almost every consumer video format available so far in the UK - video tape (pan-and-scan), Laserdisc (widescreen), Video CD (pan-and-scan) and now DVD.

Overall, not a bad effort from Polygram, but could've been a lot better by including the widescreen version as well.

FILM	 		: **
PICTURE QUALITY 	: ****½
SOUND QUALITY		: ****
EXTRAS			: ***
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OVERALL			: ***½

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.