Will Four Weddings And A Funeral (2019) Be Worth Your Time?

The relatively new miniseries Four Weddings and a Funeral, entitled the same as the 1994 film, isn’t quite a remake of the movie. It contains plenty of similar elements, and even has a cameo starring Andie MacDowell from the original film.

However, the series is missing a crucial ingredient that was key to the movie’s success: a sense of charm. This is particularly frustrating considering the brilliant writers of this TV adaptation, and the time it has to develop characters and plotlines over ten episodes.

The creators of the miniseries are Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton. Warburton was a writer and executive producer on Kaling’s The Mindy Project. The idea of an anthology TV series inspired by the original Four Weddings and a Funeral is a good one.

I wish it’d played out so in reality.

1. Quick review

Four Weddings and a Funeral follows Maya, a young communications director for a New York senatorial campaign. When her affair with the senator goes awry, she receives a wedding invitation from her college schoolmate now living in London.

She leaves her professional and personal life behind in favor of traveling to England and reconnecting with old friends. In doing so, Maya unknowingly ends up in the midst of their personal crises that spills out through the mini-series.

2. Info

3. Is It Worth Watching?

The problems this series has are the same issues that gum up every less-than-inspired romantic comedy. It has unrealistic plot twists that happen too suddenly, a lack of proper character development, and just badly written dialogues.

Although it is understandable for a two hour long film to have problems of character development, a longer runtime for the series should ideally give more space for the nuanced. It should’ve taken advantage of time to draw out details the original didn’t have the luxury to explore.

Instead, Four Weddings leans hard into clichés. There are pronouncements of true love made in the pouring rain, a winking visual gag, and too many hat tips to Love Actually for it not to be cringe-inducing.

Even though Four Weddings and a Funeral is modern and well-cast, everything involving Maya’s professional world seems too ancient to be scripted. There is little background research done on the sets and production of her profession life.

I. Plot

Maya (played by Nathalie Emmanuel) is a charming young American working for a politician she’s also having an affair with. When things go bad, she heads to London to get away and to attend the first of the weddings.

The wedding is between her best friend Ainsley (played by Rebecca Rittenhouse) and the charming Kash (played by Nikesh Patel). Once it is over, she decides to stay. That’s when she discovers more of her friends are in London.

Craig (played by Brandon Mychal Smith) and his girlfriend Zara (played by Sophia La Porta) are good friends with Maya. Duffy (played by John Reynolds), has been secretly pining for Maya for years in a sappy, rom-com way.

Gemma (played by Zoe Boyle) is Ainsley’s British best friend, and isn’t happy about Maya showing up to nudge her aside. There’s also Fatima (played by Rakhee Thakrar), who appears after a few episodes.

Four Weddings and A Funeral was written at the outset as an anthology. In theory, however, the season offers a jumble of characters that come with their romantic entanglements to surround some of life’s most important ceremonies.

II. Music and Visuals

The music director of Four Weddings and a Funeral is Lesley Barber. She is a Canadian composer of music for film, theatre, chamber and orchestral ensembles. She is also a conductor, pianist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist.

Barber has previously been nominated for an ASCAP Film and Television Music Award, as well as a Satellite Award for Manchester By The Sea (2016). She has won a Chlotrudis Award for the same.

The soundtrack includes songs such as Holy Water by Bishop Briggs, I Believe In a Thing Called Love by Nina Nesbitt, Heart Of Glass by Lily Moore, and Around The World by Calum Scott.

Many viewers may come to the series hoping to recapture the blissed-out feeling they had after seeing the film for the first time. Although they might be disappointed, the miniseries offers mesmerizing visuals of London and its general setting.

4. Grade

5. Final Thoughts

With all being said, the inclusivity of the show is unmatched. While the original film reeked of a monotonous white, with little representation given to people of color, the series does not follow in its footsteps in that regard.

The representation of people of color is evident with the central romance between a black woman and a Pakistani man. Kaling also points out the diversity of the writers of the show in an interview, which included comedy and drama writers of different races.

Four Weddings and a Funeral does a disappointing job of handling relationships that don’t conform to heteronormativity. Considering how well it was cast, it’s a pity that the characters who play gay men are straight.

Like Walt Disney said, the magic really is in the details.