HUGH’S BRIDE AND JOY
The big reveal for Red Nose Day’s sequel to Four Weddings And A Funeral — a happy couple at the altar and not a groom in sight!
HANKIES out. The big reveal of One Red Nose And A Wedding was that the marriage blessing being celebrated was between two brides, played by Lily James ( Miranda) and Alicia Vikander (not a clue).
Lily wore a frock made of feathers, Alicia put on scarlet lipstick and her best Rudolph Valentino drag before they swore undying love in front of bumbling vicar Rowan Atkinson.
‘You held my hand and my feelings changed. And one day you kissed me and my life changed,’ said Lily, amid a sisterly flurry of double mothers of the bride, a best woman instead of a best man and some truly painful dialogue.
‘The first time I saw you, you were in nappies,’ said Alicia at the altar. ‘We spent ten years in the same school uniform, then I held your hand and something changed.’
What? She finally got out of nappies? We never did find out. While this filmette might send out a powerful message about how we have changed and evolved in the last 25 years, the words were hardly the poetry of love.
Shown for the first time on Comic Relief last night, Richard Curtis’s mini-sequel to 1994’s Four Weddings And A Funeral featured most of the original cast reprising their roles in a popping rush of pure hot corn. It turned out that Charles (Hugh Grant) was the father of Miranda, while Alicia was the daughter of Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas). Charles was still with Carrie (Andie MacDowell) although they had never married, as they always promised they wouldn’t. Now with this latest coupling, their lives were more enmeshed than ever before. You might recall that the original film followed a group of posh friends as they attended four weddings, a funeral, a punch-up and a final declaration of intent – love was requited in the end. Then and now we were and are deep in the jolly froth of middleclass confetti and rosebud buttonholes, in a mythical place where the attractive and the rich flagellate themselves in the search for love. That is because love is all that ever matters in Curtis country, the uncommitted in pursuit of the unknowable.
The gang were all here in their Sunday best and just look at them, drink them in! Hugh, Andie, Kristin and the rest. The passage of time and life’s many woes have barely made a dent on those clear brows and Hollywood skins.
All of them are maturing with aplomb which is not, please note, a brand name for some kind of turbo- charged, actor- strength Botox. They are all ageing like a case of fine malts, whisky rather than vinegar, although you can’t always tell what is running through those veins.
Who does it best? With his silvery quiff and fine grey suit, Hugh Grant appears to be morphing into Cary Grant. Glorious Andie is forever dandy and Dame Kristin Scott Thomas appears to have aged in reverse dog years in the intervening decades.
In truth, it was rather fabulous to see them all again, in a wife and wife production that was created to raise money for charity.
So one doesn’t want to be too uncharitable, but it wasn’t very funny or poignant, and any light hearted fun and enjoyment was swamped in the mudslide of the message.