Search This Blog

Friday, April 10, 2020

"Four Weddings and a Funeral" (2019)

I never thought I would be back here, because the 1994 film, this series is based on, was my first post. I didn't think of it at the time, but I realize that's it's weird to squish five major events into a two-hour movie. Now I realize that they're gonna have to make some sh*t up in order to stretch a two-hour movie into a ten-part miniseries.
So, they Americanized it, but still have it set in a fantasy version of London where the Brits aren't giving them sh*t for being Yanks, well except for the constable that warned Maya twice about littering the Thames. In order to make this series last longer, they front loaded the botched wedding to give drama to Maya and Kash. Both times, I don't think this counts as a wedding because it didn't happen. To quote Wesley, from The Princess Bride, "You didn't say it, you didn't do it."
Also, it was kind of tacky to reference the other well-known Richard Curtis film this side of the pond, Love, Actually. I'm actually surprised that Hugh Grant didn't show his ugly face in this one, since he was in both films. The Love, Actually Easter eggs include, but aren't limited to: the cue card messages, opening with "Love is All Around Us", a cheating American politician, a British politician voting against his party, a black singer appearing at a wedding to sing at the ceremony, a mysterious jewelry gift meant for someone else, a dumb, blond guy looking to get laid with an American girl, and a guy's best friend having feeling for his date.
Honestly, the person that stole the whole show was the Queen, watching the reality dating show, Love, Chalet (oh, forgot that Easter egg), saying, "Zara found love, how nice." That is really the best part of the series.
I had forgotten a few details since I saw the movie, but I was sure that the four weddings would be among the four friends. I remember now that they attended all the same weddings. I remember that when Kash's friend, Basheer, marries Fatima, whom Kash was dating in an arranged marriage.
The part that bothered me the most was when Maya was applying for a job, she gets hired by a young Parliamentarian who touches her inappropriately. When she confronts him about it, he said to remember that she came up to him, at a gym, in a sports bra. First of all, dude, just f*cking apologize. Second, she dressed the part for the situation. He was at the gym; the sports bra is the proper attire for the gym. It would have been weird if she showed up in a blazer asking for a job. It'd be like applying to be a police officer wearing an apron and a toque.
I know this is just a miniseries, but if there is one character that should get its own movie or show, it's Basheer. I've noticed this in movies, and this will get playfully racist, Indians and Pakistani people are the absolute wingmen. You never fly solo. Never. Basheer was very upset, much like Maya was for stealing Kash from Ainsley, that he wanted Kash to hit him with his car. When Kash needed a chaperone (that's a very Victorian way, that's not weird), he texted Bash, and Bash dropped whatever he was doing. Bash drove Kash to the airport to "stop" Maya's wedding and was willing to stay at the airport in case it didn't work out. We all need a Basheer in our lives.
The funeral was actually very nice, but of all the ABBA songs Gemma would've picked, she picked a breakup song. What about "Honey Honey", "Fernando", "Waterloo"? I feel Gemma and her son Giles play off of the plot of The Sound of Music (probably why Kash starred in it) with them struggling from Quentin's death and finding love again in Duffy. And Arsenal sucks.
This was a fun series and I recommend it, if you're not too busy bingeing Friends or The Office for umpteenth time this isolation time.

Click image to view URL.

I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie or TV show for me to review. Thank you for reading. I'll return next week with another movie. See you then.

Released on Hulu: July 31 - September 11, 2019
Rating: TV-MA
Stars: Nathalie Emmanuel, Nikesh Patel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, John Reynolds, Brandon Mychal Smith, Zoe Boyle, Sophia La Porta, Harish Patel, Guz Khan
Directors: Charles McDougall, Tristram Shapeero, Catherine Morshead
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 42%
IMDb Score: 8.0/10 (Average)

1 comment:

  1. Basheer was the best!
    I liked this, but not as much as the original and not nearly as much as Love Actually. But if you liked those, I would definitely recommend this one.

    ReplyDelete