| Comedy | MPAA:R |
Four Weddings and a Funeral doesn't have any former Monty Python members in it, which makes it a bit unusual for an English comedy. Not that that is a reflection one way or another on the movie, but on how pervasive the former Pythons are in America's perception of British humor. And if they aren't appearing in the film, then it's quite likely that Terry Gilliam is making the film (Gilliam, though a former Python member, isn't British, he's American). Problem is, these guys are getting older, and some of them don't seem to want to admit it, like Eric Idle in Splitting Heirs.
The story begins with a brief history of the Bournemouth family, and the rather appallingly bad luck that seems to have plagued the family throughout history. The last duke married an American girl, who gave him a son. The duke and his bride were a bit on the hippie side though, and, after a night of heavy partying, end up leaving the baby in a restaurant, not realizing their mistake for hours. After a major manhunt .. er .. babyhunt, they find a kid. Mom's fairly sure the kid is not the right one, but what the heck. Years later, we discover Tommy (Eric Idle), living with a family of Indians (Asian, not American) who he thinks is his real family, and working as a stock broker for Bournemouths. Tommy gets assigned to entertain some company VIP from America, and, to keep him out of the way. Enter Henry (Rick Moranis), the heir to the family fortune, and a fun loving guy. Henry gets Tommy in trouble with his boss, who fires Tommy. Then the current duke dies, making Henry the new Duke of Bournemouth, and Tommy's Boss's boss. Henry kicks out the old fart and re-hires Tommy in his place. Henry and Tommy have lots of fun, except for Henry's mom (Barbara Hershey) always hitting on him (Tommy that is). Then Tommy finds out that HE is the real duke of Bournemouth, not Henry. Tommy goes to a lawyer named Shadgrind (John Cleese) to get help to regain his title, but Cleese tells him that the only way to regain his title is to kill Henry. After several unsuccessful attempts to off Henry, Henry's wife, Kitty (Catherine Zeta Jones), tells Tommy that she is pregnant with his child, which turns out to be a boy. Tommy quits trying to kill Henry, satisfied in knowing that his son will be the Duke. Shadgrind on the other hand, keeps trying to kill Henry and the child, thinking if he kills them all off, HE can become the Duke. Anyway, Mom finds out that Tommy is really her son and heir, not Henry. Tommy says not to tell anyone, because he really doesn't care, as long as his son becomes duke one day. Henry hears all of this on the baby monitor. After a big showdown with Shadgrind, all the truth comes out, including the fact that the baby isn't Tommy's, Kitty just told him that so he wouldn't kill Henry. Soooo..... Henry becomes a normal average person, with a normal average wife and kid. Tommy becomes the Duke of Bournemouth, marries his secretary from work (Sadie Frost, who is just as absolutely wonderful without her strawberry blonde Lucy Westenra wig as she is with). And they all live happily ever after.
So, why did I gripe earlier? The beginning of the movie implies that Tommy is in his early 30's (his parents were '60's hippies, remember?). Rick Moranis can almost pull that off, but have you seen Eric Idle lately? He's not the handsome young devil he was when he was a Python. He is at least as old as the actress playing his mom (if not older) and is definitely old enough to be Sadie Frost's father. But, if you can get past all of that, you'll find a fairly entertaining movie, and Idle is still funny, if not exactly sure of his age.