‘Four Weddings’: Bad for Grant, Good for Church?

By Londonist Last edited 196 months ago
‘Four Weddings’: Bad for Grant, Good for Church?
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Ever stop to wonder about the legacy of romantic comedy ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’? Every other minute of your work week? Well, you’re in luck, as today’s the day that Londonist tackles this very question. Sort of.

Mild-mannered examination of love and marriage in the 1990s? Check. Perpetuator of the stereotype of the fumbling, floppy-haired English male? Check. Beyond that, though, the movie’s legacy becomes a bit more jumbled, as evidenced by recent nominally related news stories.

Item A: Hugh Grant, propelled to stardom by ‘Four Weddings’, is being held up as the poster boy - ‘boy’ being the problem - of the ‘Graver’ phenomenon, whereby 40 and 50 somethings act half their age and fixate on youth culture. Whether Grant considers this a problem is another question entirely. We doubt so.

Item B: The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great will start charging visitors as a way of offsetting rising maintenance costs to the twelfth-century structure. The first parish church in Britain to institute an entrance fee, St. Bart’s will charge £4 of tourists and movie buffs alike, whether their interest lies in the Norman architecture or in the setting of favourite ‘Four Weddings’, ‘Shakespeare in Love’, and ‘Robin Hood’ scenes. St. Bart’s will, however, remain free to worshippers. We assume that this does not include worship of Charles and Carrie or the romance which became the highest-grossing British film of all time.

No word yet on when the sequel, in which Charles dumps Carrie for a 19-year-old knickers model, is due out.

By Julie Palmer-Hoffman

Picture taken from Sacred Destinations’ Flickrstream.

Last Updated 20 November 2007