Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Sight and Sound
"...Andie MacDowell looks ravishing....Kristen Scott Thomas makes a marvellously brittle Fiona..." 06/01/1994 p.47

New York Times
"...A multi-tiered confection with a romantic spirit and an enchantingly pretty veneer. Elegant, festive and very, very funny....A career-making role [for Grant]..." 03/09/1994 p.C15

Entertainment Weekly
"...Infectious charm and sunny goodwill..." -- Rating: A- 03/25/1994 pp.38-9

Los Angeles Times
"...Cheerful and witty....It offers the kind of sly pleasure only British comedy seems to provide..." 03/09/1994 p.F1

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 0 of 10
Refreshing, intelligent adult comedy brimming with stiff upper-lip wit and sophistication. Thirtyish Brit bachelor Charles (Hugh Grant) spends his time attending the weddings of his friends, but manages to avoid taking the plunge himself. Then he falls for Carrie (Andie MacDowell), who's about to wed another. Great beginning offers loads of laughs as the first two weddings unfold, then becomes decidedly bittersweet. While Grant makes this a star turn as the romantic bumbler, MacDowell charms without seeming particularly needed. Supporting characters are superb, especially Charlotte Coleman as the "flirty" Scarlett and Atkinson as a new minister. Surprising boxoffice hit found a broad audience.
 
ReelViews 9 of 10
The simplest and most honest expression of praise that I can offer Mike Newell's latest movie is that it represents two hours of solid movie magic. Four Weddings and a Funeral possesses the rare ability to make an audience laugh (and laugh hard) and cry, without ever seeming manipulative or going hopelessly over-the-top...Four Weddings and a Funeral is about, well, four weddings and a funeral...While the central story of this charming motion picture is fairly common romantic comedy fare, it is framed by a plot filled with little twists and turns, lots of laughs, and a frothy, intoxicating atmosphere...Mike Newell, whose recent directing credits include Enchanted April and Into the West, continues to show a deft hand when it comes to good, escapist fun. Newell's direction is understated -- he allows his actors and the script to carry the film, which results in a satisfying mix of lighthearted comedy with a dash or two of pathos (including an emotional reading of W.H. Auden)...Screenwriter Richard Curtis (who also penned The Tall Guy) is quick to let the humor start flowing, and once it starts, it never stops (although it slows during the more somber segments of the film's second half). The scenes most likely to cause uncontrollable laughter occur during the second wedding and center on Rowan Atkinson as a somewhat confused priest. It's no surprise that Atkinson feels at home with a Curtis script, since the two collaborated on the British TV show Blackadder...Four Weddings and a Funeral is a modern comedy with a very traditional theme. It blends good breeding and bad language; laughter and tears; and marriage and friendship into a thoroughly enjoyable whole. Mike Newell knows what his viewers want, but appreciates them enough not to give it in a predictable or obvious manner -- and that is the greatest pleasure of all in watching this movie. - James Berardinelli
 
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
"Four Weddings and a Funeral," delightful and sly, is a comedy about people who seem to live out their lives in public, attending weddings. No doubt they have everyday lives as well, but the film doesn't supply them. Even in the case of the central character, a likable, shy, perennial best man named Charles (Hugh Grant), we're never told what he does for a living..."Four Weddings and a Funeral" has been directed by Mike Newell, with the same kind of light-hearted enchantment that made his "Enchanted April" (1991) and [1992]'s "Into the West" so seductive. Here, with his large cast, he moves nimbly through the crowd, making introductions with his camera. Luckily many of the scenes are set in large houses with room for the characters to creep away and engage in private drama...Hugh Grant, the star of the film, has been in a lot of movies, but this may be the one that makes him finally familiar to American audiences. He has a self-deprecating manner, a kind of endearing awkwardness, that makes you understand why a woman might like him - and why he might drive her mad while tap-dancing around his real feelings. MacDowell is much more open and direct ("more American," the movie must feel), and so it's intriguing to realize that while she is in love with a man she can say anything to, she's engaged to a man she basically has to lie to all the time...Like Kenneth Branagh's "Peter's Friends," this film forms a community that eventually envelops us. Also like that film, it's about how a homosexual character becomes a focus for much of what is best among the other characters, who are mostly straight; the gay man in both films is a center of good feeling, and helps create a sense of family. By the end of the movie, you find yourself reacting to the weddings, and the funeral, almost as you do at real events involving people you didn't know very well, but liked, and wanted to know better. - Roger Ebert