Four Weddings And A Funeral Review

At a time when the British film industry badly needed a hit, Four Weddings And A Funeral was just that: this sublimely charming romantic fable was a box-office phenomenon that launched several careers and proved that home-grown comedy could perform just as well as its Hollywood equivalent. Its most outstanding achievement was not its blockbuster box office, but its careful treading of the tightrope between comedy and pathos - so much so that it's almost impossible not to get caught up in it.

The bumbling, likeable Charles (Grant) is all at sea when it comes to marriage and relationships. The story follows our hapless hero through a seemingly incessant round of matches (and a despatch, of course) - these ceremonies do tend to stack up for thirtysomething Londoners.

Charles is intelligent, confused, attractive, repressed. What woman could resist him? We meet him in bed, oversleeping on the morning of a wedding at which he is best man. His friends are an assortment of quirky Brit types beloved of Americans, who support him and provide a hefty portion of the film's witty banter. Everyone in the audience has someone to identify with. It's this mixture of personalities that draws us in - we want to care for these people.