7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
Shy Londoner Charles meets American Carrie at a friend's wedding and enjoys a one-night stand with her. The next time they meet, again at a wedding, Carrie is accompanied by a rich fiancé, leaving Charles heartbroken. Nevermind, with another wedding on the horizon, there is still time for him to pitch his woo and win the love of his transatlantic sweetheart.
Starring: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow, Charlotte ColemanRomance | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Italian: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 2.0
Polish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Thai: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
William Goldman is an iconic Academy Award winning screenwriter (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) who has chronicled the adventures of working in Hollywood in his minor classic, Adventures in the Screen Trade. Perhaps less known, but no less of a great read, is Goldman’s account of the 1967-68 year on Broadway, The Season, which I mentioned in my review of the little known or seen comedy The Six Wives of Henry LeFay. Though some readers found a hint of homophobia running through Goldman’s piece on The Great White Way, overall it’s one of the most fascinating inside looks at what made Broadway tick toward the end of what many consider the Golden Era for live theater in New York City. Goldman tackled a number of really interesting subjects in The Season, everything from the “power” behind any given show (which could be everyone from a producer—like David Merrick—to a star—like Steve Lawrence) to the “power” of theater parties and their bulk ticket buying proclivities. One of Goldman’s more interesting theses was the timing of what he called the “charm musical”, shows like My Fair Lady. Goldman made an interesting case that 1956 was the perfect year for a relatively quiet, thoughtful, and, well, charming show like My Fair Lady to come along, and that was a large part of its success. Goldman points to other, less successful shows like She Loves Me or The Gay Life as victims of their own timing. Though it’s not a musical, Four Weddings and Funeral is certainly what could be called a “charm romantic comedy”, a lightweight affair that breezes by with a minimum of fuss and bother, elevated by a couple of nice star turns, quick and almost burlesque-like comedy bits, and nary a thought underneath its elegantly coiffed (and usually hatted) head. But it seemed to arrive on American shores at exactly the right time, and it benefited from that judicious arrival. Four Weddings and a Funeral was the first of many (as in many) similar comedies, many of which featured Hugh Grant, and it marked the beginning of a rather sizable wave of British fare, most of which found box office gold on this side of the pond. Now as we approach the 20th anniversary of the film’s release, and it arrives yet again, this time on Blu-ray, do the stars align once more so that longtime fans will still be enchanted and new audiences will find similar attraction to the film?
Critics like to toss around tech-speak a lot of the time, and I have personally heard from readers how it sometimes drives them crazy. But for anyone who cares to know what "telecine wobble" is, take a gander at the opening few seconds of Four Weddings and a Funeral's AVC encoded 1080p image (in 1.85:1). When that first Polygram title pops up, you're likely to think an earthquake has hit your screen, so crazy is the motion. The wobble settles down, a bit at least, through the main titles, though it's still rather apparent. Luckily things improve dramatically after the film starts. This was not the sharpest looking film to begin with when it was originally released, but this Blu-ray looks at least decently sharp, with excellent color, great saturation, and a pleasing amount of fine detail. Grain is natural looking, and the overall image has a nice filmic texture. Contrast is generally excellent, though some of the nighttime scenes suffer from moderate crushing. The film is still a bit soft, though that's exactly how it looked in its original theatrical release. This is certainly much better looking than the SD-DVD and represents a substantial, albeit subtle at times, upgrade in image quality from previous home video releases.
Four Weddings and Funeral is presented with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, but there's truthfully not a wealth of surround activity the soundtrack can exploit. The source cues and underscore play out nicely throughout the surrounds, and the larger party scenes do have a smattering of discrete channel effects, but this after all a quieter, more dialogue driven romantic comedy, so there's nothing really bombastic here that will set audiophiles' ears on fire. This is a respectable, professional sounding track that sports excellent fidelity. Dynamic range is limited, as is to be expected, though there's an appealing low end in many of the music cues. Dialogue is well positioned and easy to hear, and the overall mix is excellent as well.
Four Weddings and a Funeral ports all of the extras from the previous DVD over to this edition. As with the other Target Exclusives, this Blu-ray comes without benefit of a main menu, and unfortunately the Pop-Up menu will not function once any given Special Feature is accessed.
It's not the masterpiece some critics claimed it was when it was first released, but time has been mostly kind to Four Weddings and a Funeral. The humor is brisk and often quite funny, and Grant is very appealing in one of his first major roles. The film still looks a bit soft, as it always has, but this Blu-ray offers enough of an improvement to make this title Recommended.
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