The film follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles (Hugh Grant), a Briton who is smitten with Carrie, an American (Andie MacDowell), whom Charles repeatedly meets at four weddings and at a funeral.
The first wedding is that of Angus (Timothy Walker) and Laura (Sara Crowe), at which Charles is the best man. Charles and his collection of single friends wonder if they will ever get married. At this wedding, Charles meets Carrie for the first time and spends the night with her.
Carrie teases him by pretending that, now they have been to bed together, they will also have to get married, to which Charles endeavors to respond before realizing she is joking. She then goes back home to America, observing that they may have missed an opportunity.
The second wedding is that of Bernard (David Haig) and Lydia (Sophie Thompson), a couple who got together at the previous wedding. Rowan Atkinson makes his second appearance, this time as a fully fledged but gaffe-prone priest conducting his first wedding ceremony through his connection as a friend of the family.
Charles is happy to discover that Carrie is attending the wedding, until she introduces him to her fiancé, Sir Hamish Banks (Corin Redgrave), a wealthy politician from Scotland. At the reception, Charles finds himself seated at a table with several ex-girlfriends who relate embarrassing stories about his inability to be discreet, and afterwards bumps into Henrietta (Anna Chancellor), with whom he had a difficult relationship.
As the evening wears on, Charles finds himself in an empty hotel suite watching Carrie and Hamish leave in a taxicab, only to be trapped in the bath after the newlyweds suddenly stumble into the room to have sex. After Charles awkwardly exits the room, Henrietta confronts him about his habit of serial monogamy, telling him that he is afraid of letting anyone get too close to him. Shortly after this encounter, Charles runs into Carrie (without her fiancé), and they end up spending another night together.
Character to watch: Hugh Grant as Charles.
Journal your answers to the following questions after you watch the movie.
- How does this particular character’s journey compare with yours?
- Did the character develop certain characteristics during the movie that you have or that you would like to have? If so, what are those characteristics?
- What obstacles did this character face? What was his or her biggest challenge?
- What would you have done differently if you had been in the same position as the character?
- Is this character the type of person you would be friends with? Why or why not?