I’m watching Four Weddings and a Funeral for the first time

[Change17]

I know it’s a classic but somehow I’ve never watched it.
So I’m about an hour in and I just wanna get this straight ..

Carrie meets Charles. They sleep together. Charles finds out she’s in fact engaged and meets her fiancé. They sleep together again. And then she takes him with her to pick out a wedding dress .. that’s as far as I’m up to

What is happening here I thought these two were one of the most iconic and popular couples in romcom history I had no idea this is how the relationship started 😂😂

Ohhhhh this is one of my favourite films ever!!!
But I totally agree if you've gone into it thinking it's about a great romance eg Bridget & Darcey you'll be disappointed. It's about that era in your 20s/30s when everyone's getting married. One of absolute favourites is when Charles arrives at the second wedding, picks up the order of service & frowns at it "who is it today?"
So many brilliant observations of English middle/upper class culture at major life events. The going away outfits!! Love love love it you're making me want to watch it for about the 20th time!!

Scarlett is the flatmate not sister. Charlotte Coleman, apart from being fab as Scarlett and Marmalade Atkins was also the little girl (Sue?) in Wurzel Gummidge. Gosh I feel old!
'I always expect Americans to be dull as shit but of course you're not are you? ' 'you're lovely!' < breathless>.

I love Four Weddings! It’s so delightfully 90s.

Carrie is awful. She clearly only married Hamish for his money, he was utterly repellant in every way.

That wiki entry is balls. No way is she his sister.

It was only 20 something years ago when the film came out but it may as well be 100 years, as things have changed so much. That film was massive and it coincided with lots of people I knew getting married. I miss the 90s so much, it was the best.

@Cavagirl

Ohhhhh this is one of my favourite films ever!!! But I totally agree if you've gone into it thinking it's about a great romance eg Bridget & Darcey you'll be disappointed. It's about that era in your 20s/30s when everyone's getting married. One of absolute favourites is when Charles arrives at the second wedding, picks up the order of service & frowns at it "who is it today?" So many brilliant observations of English middle/upper class culture at major life events. The going away outfits!! Love love love it you're making me want to watch it for about the 20th time!!

I absolutely will rewatch it. I went into it with a completely different idea in mind so I spent the first half just a little lost. I’m 28 and unmarried and can’t seem to go on Instagram without seeing a new engagement or pregnancy announcement so very much relate to some of these characters !

Dirty Dancing loses all appeal when you properly acknowledge the ages of the characters (17yo girl, 25yo man). I never liked it.

4 weddings is very 90s in relationship terms as well - total car crash "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" type feeling throughout.

@Change17

I just realised how similar Charles sister Scarlett is to Hugh Grant’s character, Will’s sister Honey in Notting Hill.

there's always one of these in Richard Curtis movies. Slightly manic pixie dream girl vibes but usually a sister or something completely off-limits sexually. I think it makes the MC seem quirky by association? There's the sister in About Time too.

I have watched Four Weddings many times since the early 00s and have always been struck by how truly awful Carrie is. Inviting a shag to your wedding dress fitting? Sorry, it's a dick move. I think she's a nasty piece of work. I don't see how any of it is romantic.

Charles and Carrie are the least interesting thing about Four Weddings. Everybody else , even the minor characters, are what makes this film tick. It's like a series of vignettes, with some wonderful lines and dialogue. I remember seeing it in a packed cinema on the cusp of that time in your life when it seems that every weekend is a wedding where you run into the same people over and over. For me, it makes it very nostalgic and the detail is still wonderful. Carrie is awful though - especially the speech she gives at her own wedding. Basically mocking Charles.

‘Yeah and I completely understand that. One of my fav romcoms is Imagine Me and You (not very well known but extremely underrated imo !!) a lady who just got married falls completely in love with someone else and they do ultimately end up together. You feel for the husband but it’s also very sweet and genuine and I don’t know, just a totally different vibe.‘

@Change17 I’ve never found anyone else who’s even heard of ‘Imagine me and You’ I LOVE that film It’s definitely my favourite rom com! I have the DVD somewhere!

I do also love Four Weddings and a Funeral too though.

My absolute favourite character is the batty old man who pops up once or twice.

“Hello, I’m Charles”
“Dont be ridiculous, Charles died twenty years ago!”
“It must be...a different Charles I think?”
“Are you telling me I don’t know my own brother?!”

“Bride or groom?....bride or groom?”
“It should be perfectly obvious I’m neither! Great god!”

I'm just watching the scene where she's listing her conquests. My numbers are higher.... 😂 However my DH doesn't know the numbers, and not will he ever.

I love this film but loathe Andie McDowell. Worst acting I've ever seen. I think the character of Carrie is pretty loathsome too - cheating on her fiance and taking her current lover to help choose her wedding dress, isn't sexually confident and independent, it's skanky! I think we're supposed to like her but the bad acting makes it impossible.
Still, I suppose it shows that love doesn't hinge on being a good person.

@FridaKFangirl

‘Yeah and I completely understand that. One of my fav romcoms is Imagine Me and You (not very well known but extremely underrated imo !!) a lady who just got married falls completely in love with someone else and they do ultimately end up together. You feel for the husband but it’s also very sweet and genuine and I don’t know, just a totally different vibe.‘

@Change17 I’ve never found anyone else who’s even heard of ‘Imagine me and You’ I LOVE that film It’s definitely my favourite rom com! I have the DVD somewhere!

I do also love Four Weddings and a Funeral too though.

As a gay woman it really holds a very special place in my heart ! I was 15 when I first watched it and it was the first romcom I’d seen that really relent pulled at my heart strings and gave me that butterfly feeling. That’s not to say I don’t feel the romance with hetero couples. I also adore Bridget Jones and Mark darcey. And Anna and Will in Nothing Hill! But Imagine Me & You hit an entirely different spot. I was at the age where I was questioning myself, couldn’t quite figure out who I was and it was one of the first films I saw that made me think “yep... that’s definitely what I want from life” 😂 It’s a shame it wasn’t more of a mainstream success especially considering the cast. Some of Britain’s classics. Celia Imrie, Matthew Goode, Anthony Head, Sue Johnson. Great cast.

@PomBearSandwich

My absolute favourite character is the batty old man who pops up once or twice.

“Hello, I’m Charles”
“Dont be ridiculous, Charles died twenty years ago!”
“It must be...a different Charles I think?”
“Are you telling me I don’t know my own brother?!”

“Bride or groom?....bride or groom?”
“It should be perfectly obvious I’m neither! Great god!”

aaaaaaahhhhhh yes I'd forgotten about him!!!! Brilliant character, beautifully acted.

"....Hilly" 😂

@PomBearSandwich

Yes! The bride or groom line is absolutely genius. Brilliant character.

My absolute favourite romance in the whole film is Bernard and Lydia. From the first wedding "I was promised sex!" "Well if you fancy anything, I could always..." "Oh don't be ridiculous Bernard, I'm not that desperate" 😂 and by the end of the wedding they're snogging each other's faces off and then by the end of the film they've got two DC 🥰 A life lesson for all straight women looking for love, never discount a Bernard!!! "You naughty little rabbit"

So I’ve just finished it and already planning to watch again very soon. I went into it with completely the wrong idea in my head of what it would be. I had assumed the audience would love the central couple and hadn’t realised how great the other characters are. I think I was paying so much attention to Charles and Carrie trying to figure out their relationship and if she was written to be that awful or if it was just AM’s terrible acting thst I missed a lot of it. a lot of the humour is very subtle in that brilliant British humour type way so I’m sure I’ll pick up on a lot more of the subtleties with a second watch.

@Change17 I think I was really struck by the ‘immovable object, unstoppable force’ description of love. I think it just wasn’t promoted as a mainstream film. I’m not gay and when I was searching HMV (God I’m old!) for the DVD I found it listed in a tucked away corner under ‘Gay Interest’.

Even then I remember thinking love is love why wouldn’t everyone want to see this film... It’s great that it helped the 15yo you feel more secure in yourself.

@Cavagirl

My absolute favourite romance in the whole film is Bernard and Lydia. From the first wedding "I was promised sex!" "Well if you fancy anything, I could always..." "Oh don't be ridiculous Bernard, I'm not that desperate" 😂 and by the end of the wedding they're snogging each other's faces off and then by the end of the film they've got two DC 🥰 A life lesson for all straight women looking for love, never discount a Bernard!!! "You naughty little rabbit"

Their wedding with rowan Atkinson as the vicar had me laughing out loud. “To be my awful wedded wife”

It gets me every time I watch it. How Matthew and Gareth's relationship is so naturally and softly portrayed at a time when gay couples weren't shown in that way. And in the church when they call Matthew "Gareth's good friend". It just gets me every time. How must Matthew have felt at that point.

It's a film about friendship and that time in your life. Andy McDowell is almost a side story.

[quote FridaKFangirl]@Change17 I think I was really struck by the ‘immovable object, unstoppable force’ description of love. I think it just wasn’t promoted as a mainstream film. I’m not gay and when I was searching HMV (God I’m old!) for the DVD I found it listed in a tucked away corner under ‘Gay Interest’.

Even then I remember thinking love is love why wouldn’t everyone want to see this film... It’s great that it helped the 15yo you feel more secure in yourself.[/quote]
I hope Netflix picks it up so it’s found by more people.

@ODFOx

Scarlett is the flatmate not sister. Charlotte Coleman, apart from being fab as Scarlett and Marmalade Atkins was also the little girl (Sue?) in Wurzel Gummidge. Gosh I feel old! 'I always expect Americans to be dull as shit but of course you're not are you? ' 'you're lovely!' .

From page 13 of the screenplay: "Charles's friend, Scarlett, 25, lives there."

So definitely not his sister.

@Trashtara

It gets me every time I watch it. How Matthew and Gareth's relationship is so naturally and softly portrayed at a time when gay couples weren't shown in that way. And in the church when they call Matthew "Gareth's good friend". It just gets me every time. How must Matthew have felt at that point.

It's a film about friendship and that time in your life. Andy McDowell is almost a side story.

So true. I went into it thinking it was a romcom about a couple as the main story and the friends were side characters. Like Bridget Jones with her group of friends. But it’s really the total opposite. I’ll watch it again without that idea in mind because I think it distracted too much