Issue 157

Get Romantic with Hugh Grant - 4 Brit Rom-Coms

08th October 2007

They all have the same producer, the same writer, play in the same city and have the same lead actor. So, get your popcorn ready and prepare for a big portion of Britishness!

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Hugh Grant's first and best Rom-Com, the film Four Weddings and a Funeral follows the fortunes of Charles (Hugh Grant) and his friends who wonder if they will every find true love and marry. Always running late for every wedding he has to go to, Charles finally thinks he's found 'Miss Right' in the American, Carrie (Andie MacDowell). Not surprisingly, he meets Carrie at one of the weddings, but as she already is engaged things become difficult for Charlie. Writer Richard Curtis, got the inspiration for the film while flipping through old diaries and realised that he had been to 65 weddings in 11 years.

As of 1999 it was the highest-grossing British film in cinema history with worldwide box office in excess of $260 million. The movie was nominated for two Oscars although what really took off was its soundtrack. The Scottish band Wet Wet Wet produced a cover version of Love is All Around for this movie and the single was in the charts for 15 weeks which is as long as only two singles have ever been in the British charts.

Notting Hill

Can the most famous film star in the world fall for just an ordinary guy? You know the answer already; sure she can. On one day Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), the world's most beautiful woman and best-liked actress, enters William Thacker's (Hugh Grant) travel book shop. He initially does not recognise her - a fact that quite surprises her. The characters run into each other a second time and start to develop feelings for each other. But, as Will figures out quickly, it is not easy to be together with one of the world's most wanted women; neither around your closest friends, or in front of the all-devouring press.

The movie Notting Hill led to that this particular area of London became very trendy at that time. Surprisingly, the blue door on Will Thacker's house played its own special part "behind the scenes". At the time the film was made, the house with the blue door where William lives, belonged to Notting Hill screenwriter Richard Curtis. The blue door later was auctioned at Christie's Film and Entertainment sale in London.

Bridget Jones' Diary

Bridget Jones' New Year's Resolution is clear: she will write a diary (in which she will always say the absolute truth) in order to gain control over her life. The movie sets off, when her charming although disreputable boss (Hugh Grant) takes an interest in the quirky Miss Jones and the ups and downs of their ill-fated relationship prove hilarious and touching at once. Thrown into the mix are Bridget's band of slightly eccentric friends and a rather disagreeable acquaintance (Colin Firth) that Bridget cannot seem to stop running into and finding quietly attractive.

The character of Mark Darcy is actually based on Colin Firth's performance of Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Along with other elements referring to Pride and Prejudice it was an inside-joke in the casting of Colin Firth as Mark Darcy.

As the clumsy, yet slightly overweight, heavy smoking and drinking single woman Bridget Jones the Swiss-American actress Renée Zellweger had a lot to handle in her role. Zellweger gained a reported 25lbs to play Bridget Jones.

Love Actually

It's not quite Christmas yet - but nothing stops you from getting prepared for it early. This is certainly true if you go to the shops at the moment. The most romantic comedy of 2003 is set in London during the five final frantic weeks before Christmas and follows a web-like pattern of inter-related stories of a dozen or more various individuals with their love lives, or lack of them.

The central character is newly elected bachelor Prime Minister David (Hugh Grant) who cannot express his growing feelings for his new personal assistant Natalie. At the same time a writer (Colin Firth) looks for a new inspiration - and finds it in a Portuguese woman who he cannot understand. A grieving father (Liam Neeson) encourages his son to admit his love for the beautiful classmate and a couple (Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson) have to figure out whether they still love each other.

This movie with its excellent all-star cast really makes you wish Christmas would already be here. Be it thoughtful or just plain romantic: love really is all around us.

Andrea Baumgartner-Ledger