It's the weekend after Valentine's Day which means today may well be Valentine's Day for those couples who had to freaking work on Valentine's Day.
Happy belated Valentine's Day to my darling wife, Andrea.
On that note, the Weekend Movie posts for this week will be about romantic comedies.
For Cinema Saturday, we turn to that not long ago year of 1994 for- Wait! That was THIRTY years ago? Really? No way!!
Hold on. I need a moment to collect myself.
<How can that be 30 years ago?>
...
...
For Cinema Saturday, we turn to the iconic 1994 romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Andie McDowell, Four Weddings and a Funeral. Directed by Mike Newell, it is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to star Hugh Grant.
The film follows Charles (Grant) and his circle of friends through a number of social occasions as they each encounter romance.
Wedding #1: Angus and Laura in Somerset
Unmarried best man Charles meets and is immediately attracted to Carrie (McDowell), a young American who has been working in England. They spend the night together. In the morning, Carrie, who is returning to the U.S., laments they may have "missed a great opportunity".
Wedding #2: Bernard and Lydia
Bernard is one of Charles' friends who hooked up with Lydia at the previous wedding.
Charles is super duper excited to run into Carrie.
Charles is super duper depressed to meet the stuffy and snobbish Hamish who is Carrie's much older Scottish fiancé.
Charles is super duper... I don't know what but he does get to spend the night with Carrie one more time.
Wedding #3: Carrie and Hamish
Charles' friend Fiona senses his heartbreak over seeing Carrie and Hamish together and professes her love to Charles but he cannot bring himself to reciprocate.
Charles' friend Gareth, ever positive and gregarious (and very gay), urges the circle of friends to seize life and find potential mates at this wedding.
Bummer! Gareth dies of a heart attack during the reception.
Funeral #1: Gareth
Matthew recites "Funeral Blues", a poem by British-American poet W. H. Auden. Even though their social circle took pride in being single, Gareth and Matthew were the most like a "married" couple.
Carrie and Charles share a brief moment.
Wedding #4: Charles and ??????
Ten months later, Charles's own wedding day arrives. This sequence toys with who Charles is getting married to as we ponder the list of women (other than Carrie) involved in his life. Surely he didn't pick Henrietta?
The bride is Henrietta. Off all the women in Charles' life we've met in this movie, he settled on the emotionally fragile and needy Henrietta? Really?
Then Carrie shows up and tells Charles that she and Hamish have separated following a difficult marriage.
Well, that timing sucks! Charles is about to get married!
During the ceremony, the vicar asks if anyone present has any reason why the couple should not marry, someone has an objection.
After said objection is voiced, Henrietta punches out Charles.
It appears the wedding is off.
Charles and Carrie meet later on the street during a rainstorm. Charles professes his love for her and proposes a lifelong commitment without marriage. And he's sorry for saying all of this in the rain.
To which Carrie says "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed." Which I think is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said in a movie.
Yes, I am a straight male. Why do you ask?
Oh, I can't appreciate a romantic gesture because I'm an old cynical man with a darkened soul and crushed dreams and no real reason go on living?
Well, screw you! "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed" is romantic as hell and I would cry if I had functioning tear ducts.
I can see why Four Weddings and a Funeral has it's rep as a prime example of a really good romantic comedy, bolstered by a tight script and brilliant performances by Grant and McDowell and the supporting cast.
It is not, however, an easy movie for me to watch. I have my own sad story of having "missed a great opportunity" and my story plays out like Charles' tale to the point of the 3rd wedding.
But not after.
Apparently writer Richard Curtis had his own tale of woe involving a "missed great opportunity" and wanted to re-write his heartbreak with a happier ending.
Four Weddings and a Funeral turns heartbreak to a happy ending.
"Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed."
It's more romance tomorrow as Cinema Sunday ventures back to the 1940's for a screwball comedy of romance: The Bride Came C.O.D.
No comments:
Post a Comment