Susanna Hamnett Movies
This acclaimed British comedy centers on the intermittent romance between a charming (if slightly bumbling) Englishman and a beautiful American woman, who seem to always run into each other at weddings. Indeed, it is at the first of the title's four weddings that Charles (Hugh Grant) and Carrie (Andie McDowell) meet, enjoying a brief but fleeting connection. The spark is rekindled several months later, when they unexpectedly meet at another wedding. Unfortunately, however, Carrie has become engaged to another, a fact that complicates matters for them both. The story may seem simple, but the film is elevated by screenwriter Richard Curtis' ear for witty dialogue and a colorful supporting cast. Director Mike Newell's sympathetic attention to character keeps the proceedings believable, and prevents the film's more serious moments from seeming mawkish. These elements, along with Grant's star-making performance as Charles, helped the film achieve unexpected international success, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, (more)
- 1991
When first telecast in Britain in 1991, Ashenden consisted of four hour-long episodes. When the production was shown over America's A&E cable service on June 7 and 8, 1993, the four episodes were combined into two, with a brace of stories offered in each 2-hour dollop. In A&E's second installment of Ashenden (see entry 123760 for details on the first), our hero, a British playwright-cum-WWI secret agent, travels to Russia with an American businessman (Rene Auberjonois) on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution. He then becomes fed up with the whole espionage business upon meeting an American war widow in Italy. Alex Jennings is starred as Ashenden, a thinly disguised version of Somerset Maugham himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
