Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994, UK)

In Mike Newell's surprise R-rated British hit, a romantic comedy with explicit language and content, it told about an on-again/off-again romance between a British bachelor and an American female - who often met at weddings (and one funeral):

• in the opening scene set in London on May 1st, witty and charming 32 year-old bachelor Charles (Hugh Grant) and his quirky, tone-deaf roommate Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman) woke up in their shared apartment, and accompanied by a barrage of many F-words, the two realized that they had overslept and were late to a wedding - an habitual practice; they raced in Scarlett's slow 40 mph car to St. John's Church in Somerset, England for the wedding, arriving just in time

Charles (Hugh Grant)	American Journalist Caroline "Carrie" (Andie MacDowell)	Matthew (John Hannah)
Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman)	Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas)	Gareth (Simon Callow)

• the film's 'first' wedding was between Angus (Timothy Walker) and Laura (Sara Crowe), with Charles serving as best man (but he had forgotten the ring!); two of the attendees were the highly-energetic, gregarious Gareth (Simon Callow) and Matthew (John Hannah), two loyal and committed gay partners
• after the service in the church garden, Charles was warned by his ascerbic, jealous, wealthy, long-time friend Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) about one of the attendees wearing a very wide-brimmed black hat - an American journalist and fashion editor named Caroline "Carrie" (Andie MacDowell) - "Slut...Used to work at Vogue. Lives in America now. Only gets out with very glamorous people. Quite out of your league"
• under one of the outdoor tents, Fiona spoke with trainee-vicar Father Gerald (Rowan Atkinson) who was nervous about conducting services in the future; Fiona observed how the recent ceremony was like sex: "Rather like the first time one has sex...Though rather less messy, of course, and far less call for condoms"
• during the post-ceremony dinner, the bumbling Charles spoke to the gathered audience and stated how it was his second time to be best man; during a funny speech, he added that it was unfortunate that his previous time, the couple divorced after a disastrous two days; he then drunkenly added for the current couple: "I am, as ever, in bewildered awe of anyone who makes this kind of commitment that Angus and Laura have made today. I know I couldn't do it and I think it's wonderful they can"; he then proposed a toast for "the adorable couple"; the spirited Gareth joined the newlyweds on the dance floor for some outrageous moves; Charles kept staring at the American Carrie, and Matthew questioned if it was "love at first sight"
• meanwhile, bridesmaid Lydia (Sophie Thompson) was depressed and upset about the lack of attention she had received: "I was promised sex. Everybody said it. 'You'll be a bridesmaid, you'll get sex, you'll be fighting 'em off.' But not so much as a tongue in sight"; Bernard (David Haig) suggested: "Well, I mean, if you fancy anything, I could always...," but she declined: "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Bernard. I'm not that desperate"; however, as everything was winding down, the couple were seen passionately kissing as people slowly departed
• afterwards, Charles changed his overnight plans and met up with the elusive, pretty and unique American Carrie in her Room 12 accommodations at The Lucky Boatman pub; she invited him in: "Well, why don't you come in and skulk for a while"; she flirtatiously spoke about how they were faced with deciding to have sex or not: ("So I noticed the bride and groom didn't kiss in the church which is kind of strange. Where I come from, kissing is very big...I always worry I'll go too far, you know, in the heat of the moment"); Charles asked: "How far do you think too far would be, then?"; she offered him different kinds of kisses to measure their intimacy; she gave him an innocent peck on the cheek, and then a kiss on the lips ("Maybe this would be better"); Charles remarked: ("I think it would be dangerous to take it any further"), but then after another very passionate kiss, he added: ("That might be taking it a little far")
• as the two removed each other's clothes to have sex, Charles thought that they were at the "honeymoon" stage: ("This kind of thing is really better suited to the honeymoon than to the service itself"); then, he answered Carrie's question about the reason for the term 'honeymoon': "I suppose it's, uh, 'honey' because it's sweet as honey, and 'moon' because it's the first time a husband got to see his wife's bottom"; the two slept together (an uncommitted, one night stand or tryst)
• the next morning, Carrie played a trick on Charles by asking: ("Just before I go, when were you thinking of announcing the engagement?...Ours. I assumed since we slept together and everything, we'd be getting married") - but then he realized that she was joking - and he expressed profound relief: ("God! For a moment there, I thought I was in Fatal Attraction. I thought you were Glenn Close and I was gonna get home and find my pet rabbit on the stove"); she confided: "I think we both missed a great opportunity here"; Carrie surprised Charles by telling him that she was leaving and returning to America
• three months later in London, the 'second' of the film's four weddings was between Bernard and Lydia; again, Charles and Scarlett were late and had to run all the way to the church; the service was officiated by nervous trainee-vicar Father Gerald; in the film's most hilarious sequence, the confused, inept, fumbling, malaprop-spouting Father Gerald mixed up their names as he recited the vows for the "awful-wedded" marital couple, including saying "Holy Goat" and "Holy Spigot" instead of "Holy Ghost or Spirit"

The 'Second' Wedding: Bernard and Lydia

Hilarious Wedding Vows Scene With Father Gerald (Rowan Atkinson)

• at this 'second' wedding, the charming (and engaged!) Carrie introduced Charles to her older, snobbish Scottish fiancee Hamish Banks (Corin Redgrave); immediately depressed, Charles mentioned to Matthew how he was forever a bachelor: "Why am I always at, uh, weddings, and never actually getting married, Matt?...Maybe it's me"; during the post-wedding dinner, Fiona confessed to a nosy seat mate at her table, that she had always been secretly in love with Charles: 'The truth is, I have met the right person, only he's not in love with me. Until I stop loving him, no one stands a chance"
• the commitment-phobic Charles realized he was in the midst of a predicament, seated at a wedding table where tales were told about his ex-girlfriends, and he squirmed and cringed while listening to their recollections: "I seem to be stuck in the wedding from hell, ghosts of girlfriends past at every turn. Next thing you know, I'll bump into Henrietta and the horror will be complete" - and then Henrietta (Anna Chancellor) appeared; Charles retreated to one of the nearby rooms, and hid when the sex-crazed married couple entered; he was tortured by the sounds of their vigorous sex on a bed
• elsewhere concealed under a table while others danced, Scarlett spoke to one of the young bridesmaids, and complained about not having a boyfriend: "Because most of the blokes I fancy think l'm stupid and pointless - and, so, they just bonk me and then leave me. And the kind of blokes that do fancy me, I think are drips. I can't even be bothered to bonk them. Which does sort of leave me a bit nowhere"; she defined 'bonking' for the young girl: "Well, it's kind of like table tennis, only with slightly smaller balls"
• Charles found himself cornered by a very clingy Henrietta, who labeled him as a commitment-phobe and explained how he was in "real trouble:" ("You're sort of turning into a kind of serial monogamist. One girl after another, yet you'll never love anyone, because you never let them near you")
• although Carrie was engaged and Charles thought the couple had departed by taxi, Carrie returned explaining that only her fiancee had departed for Scotland; she asked: "Keep me company?"; she reluctantly but eagerly agreed to have a night-cap with Charles at her hotel, and joked: "I think we can risk it. I'm pretty sure I can resist you. You're not that cute," but then spent the night with him
• one month later, he awoke and remarked to Scarlett: "I'm taking advantage of the fact that for the first time in my entire life, it's Saturday and I don't have a wedding to go to"; to his shock, Charles received an invitation to Carrie's wedding in Scotland; while gift-shopping at her expensive registry store, he happened to meet Carrie who suggested: "Just get me an ashtray"; she asked for his advice for an "important decision" she had to make: "Are you free for about a half-hour?" - the selection of her wedding dress; she modeled a varied selection of dresses for him
• afterwards at a cafe-pub, she discussed her prolific sexual history with Charles, and hilariously recounted her experiences with a total of 33 sexual partners; her 6th encounter was when she was 17 years old; partners 12-17 were during her university years; her 32nd partner ("was lovely") - and then she revealed that Charles was actually # 32 (one before her fiancee), after which she summarized her recounting: ("...So there you go, less than Madonna, more than Princess Di - I hope. And, how about you? How many have you slept with?")

Modeling Wedding Dresses For Charles

At a Pub With Charles, Carrie Discussing Her Promiscuous Sexual History

Charles' Hesitant "I Think I Love You" Declaration of Love to Carrie

• outside, Charles nervously ran after Carrie, and hesitantly declared his 'romantic' love for the about-to-be-married female; stuttering, he referenced David Cassidy's song: "I Think I Love You": ("Uhm, look. Sorry, sorry. Uh, I just, uhm, well, this is a really stupid question and, uhm, particularly in view of our recent shopping excursion, but, uh, I just wondered, if by any chance, uhm, ah, I mean obviously not because I am just some git who's only slept with nine people, but-but I-I just wondered...uhh. I really feel, umm...in short, to recap in a slightly clearer version, uh, in the words of David Cassidy in fact, uhm, while he was still with the Partridge Family, uh, 'I think I love you,' and uh, I-I, uh, just wondered by any chance, you wouldn't like to... Umm...Uh...Uh...No, no, no, of course not...Uhm, I'm an idiot, ha, he's not... Excellent, excellent, fantastic...lovely to see you, sorry to disturb...Better get on..."; she responded: "That was very romantic," and he continued: "Well, I thought it over a lot, you know, I wanted to get it just right. Important to have said it, I think...Said, uh, you know, what I, what I just said about, uh, David Cassidy") - she kissed him on the cheek: "You're lovely", but then walked off and left him standing alone
• one month later, the film's 'third' wedding was set in Perthshire, Scotland (at the Glenthrist Castle's Chapel), where Carrie married Scotsman Hamish Banks; as usual, Charles arrived late; after hearing the recitement of vows, Charles muttered to himself: "F--k-a-doodle-doo"; after the ceremony, Gareth observed: "It's Brigadoon! It's Bloody Brigadoon!"; he also encouraged everyone else: "Tonight, these are your orders: Go forth and conjugate. Find husbands and wives"; Scarlett met a tall Texan named Chester (Randall Paul), and Fiona told a stunned Charles of her unrequited love for him: ("I've been in love with the same bloke for ages....You, Charlie. It's always been you. Since first we met, oh so many years ago. I knew the first moment. Across a crowded room. Or lawn, in fact. Doesn't matter. There's nothing either of us can do. Such is life. Friends isn't bad, you know? Friends is quite something")
• suddenly, during a toast by Hamish, Gareth collapsed onto the floor and died of a heart-attack, presumably after some vigorous dancing, and the wedding celebration ended
• at a moving funeral ceremony - the film's acting highlight was Matthew's words of remembrance for "jolly" and "splendid bugger" Gareth, Matthew's gay partner: ("I hope joyful is how you will remember him. Not stuck in a box in a church"), followed by his poignant reading of W. H. Auden's Funeral Blues at the memorial service for: ("Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum, Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let the aeroplanes circle, moaning overhead, Scribbling on the sky the message: He is Dead. Put crepe bows 'round the white necks of the public doves, Let traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West. My working week and my Sunday rest. My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song. I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now, put out every one. Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun. Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood, For nothing now can ever come to any good.")

Matthew's Reading at Funeral For His Gay Partner Gareth

• ten months later in the final scene - the film's 'fourth' wedding, Charles had announced he was tying the knot with Henrietta at St. Julian's in Smithfield (London); Charles was fooled by his friends into thinking that he was late for his own wedding with "Duckface" (Henrietta's nickname by Fiona); after Charles noticed Carrie was in attendance, she informed him that she had separated from the older Hamish after a brief marriage of only a few months: ("He wasn't the man for me after all....We left each other"); they both realized that the timing was awful, and as he was about to approach the altar, Charles began swearing ("Bugger, bugger!"), changed his mind and sought to delay the proceedings
• during the ceremony at the altar when the priest asked if there were any objections, Charles' deaf younger brother David (David Bower) expressed, in sign language, that Charles was in doubt and loved someone else: ("I suspect the groom is having doubts. I suspect the groom would like to delay. I suspect the groom loves someone else"); Charles assented to the priest: "I do"; reacting to the rejection with rage (Get out of my way! Let me kill him!"), Charles' bride Henrietta punched him in the face to end the ceremony
• shortly later outside Charles' home, Carrie arrived in the rain to apologize for causing a disruption in Charles' marriage; Charles admitted: "Marriage and me - we're very clearly not meant for one another"; he was finally able to declare his utter and true love for Carrie in the rain: (Charles: "There I was, standing there in the church, and for the first time in my whole life, I realized I totally and utterly loved one person. And it wasn't the person standing next to me in the veil. It's the person standing opposite me now - in the rain"; Carrie: "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed"); and then awkwardly, he did not ask for her hand in marriage: ("But first, let me ask you one thing. Do you think, after we've dried off, after we've spent lots more time together, you might agree not to marry me? And do you think not being married to me might maybe be something you could consider doing for the rest of your life? Do you?") - Carrie's response: "I do," was accompanied by a kiss, and the camera rose into the air to capture a lightning bolt in the cloudy sky
• in the film's final image (in the ending slide-show montage of various new marital couplings - future weddings), Fiona was with a very surprising groom - Prince Charles! - to the tune of "Going to the Chapel"