Out On Blue Six: Wet Wet Wet

Following this tweet directed at Boris Johnson from Hugh Grant today... 

...I can safely say that Love is All Around for the Four Weddings actor.

End Transmission

PS: Sign Labour's petition to stop Boris Johnson's plan to suspend parliament here

RIP Jeremy Kemp

At least once or twice a year for the last few years I've found myself going 'I wonder what happened to Jeremy Kemp?' Well, sadly I learnt today that he has passed away at the age of 84. 

Kemp shot to fame in the 1962 as part of the original cast in the BBC TV series Z Cars. As PC Bob Steele, Kemp enhanced the gritty tone of the drama by depicting a policeman who has engaged in some domestic abuse himself; in the first episode, his wife Janey (Dorothy White) sports a black eye as a result of an argument from the night before. Fearing typecasting, Kemp left the show a year later and immediately established himself as a film actor, securing an above-title billing in the 1965 war movie Operation Crossbow. The following year saw him reunite with his Crossbow co-star George Peppard in another war movie, The Blue Max.

With his craggy features, strong profile and tall stature, Kemp was routinely cast in military and aristocratic roles but I always feel it was a shame and quite strange considering a strong run in the '60s and, to a lesser extent, the '70s, that he never really broke out to headline more movies. Other credits included a memorable villain in the Sherlock Holmes film The Seven Per Cent Solution, Prisoner of Zenda, The Games, Dr Terror's House of Horrors, A Bridge Too Far, Top Secret! The Winds of War, The Block House and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in Four Weddings and a Funeral (his dialogue scenes were edited out sadly).

Born near Chesterfield, Kemp did his national service and ended up as a lieutenant with the Black Watch before studying acting at the Central School of Speech an Drama. He divided his time between the UK and the US with his partner, Christopher Harter.

RIP. 

One Red Nose Day and a Wedding

Four Weddings and a Funeral is a film that means a hell of a lot to me. Indeed, it remains one of my all-time favourite movies. So believe me when I say I felt rather apprehensive about this one-off fifteen minute long reunion special for this year's Comic Relief - especially as I can't think of anything worse than sitting through the seven hour long live telethon.

Thankfully, the BBC condensed the whole thing into a 'Best Of' compilation this afternoon, which gave me the opportunity to see this. It was really nice to see so many of the original cast members back together and there were lots of nice little touches, such as the reveal that Charles and Carrie (Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell) never got round to marrying, Bernard and Lydia (David Haig and Sophie Thompson) still at it like rabbits, and Laura (Sara Crowe) throwing her usual, distinctive dance moves whilst still wearing the gaudy plastic ring that Scarlett substituted on her wedding day when best man Charles forgot the actual rings.

Which leads me to Scarlett. I know that twitter - being primarily a young person's arena - exploded with 'feels' at the reveal that this featured the wedding of Lily James (Charles and Carrie's daughter) and Alicia Vikander (Fiona's daughter), but my heart utterly melted at the brief, yet respectful and tender nod towards Scarlett not being here. I wept buckets the day that Charlotte Coleman died at the age of 33 and I nearly filled up again at her mention. 

But this needed to be more than just a reunion and unfortunately it wasn't. Richard Curtis essentially recycled the same jokes from Four Weddings and it's no surprise that what worked there, doesn't actually work here, feeling rather lazy instead. Don't get me wrong, it really tried to be its own thing in the rather nice sketching of James' and Vikander's relationship in their vows, but the whole thing was just too short to make either them or their own social circle in any way multidimensional. I've heard a bit of criticism online regarding Rowan Atkinson's return to the character of the bumbling vicar Gerald and I can see why. In Four Weddings, Gerald makes so many slips because, this being the first wedding he is officiating at, he's suffering from 'first night nerves'. The decision to make this his first same-sex marriage allows Curtis to recycle the gags, but with an undercurrent of bafflement at what he is officiating that has led to some questioning a slightly homophobic angle. Now, I don't personally think that that is the case or that it was ever intended as such, but I will argue that Richard Curtis often has poor judgement and a lapse in tact and diplomacy when it comes to his writing as many iffy sequences in his otherwise enjoyable films can attest to. Another criticism I heard which I can certainly agree with is that this just wasn't funny enough. Touching yes, but actually funny? No.

Elsewhere, this being Comic Relief and a reunion for something that is 25 years old, there's an attempt to tap into things with present day appeal. So, John Hannah's Matthew now reads from Ed Sheeran (and has a rather dull husband in the shape of that charismatic vacuum of an actor, Raza Jaffrey) rather than WH Auden, whilst Nicola Walker is back on singing duties as one half of what was credited in the original film as 'Frightful Folk Duo', this time accompanied by actual pop star Sam Smith. Funny, I guess, from a Comic Relief point of view, but it rather pulls you out of the moment. I mean, if they had to go for a celeb name joining the cast, couldn't they have had the balls to ask Prince Charles if he would play Fiona's (Kristin Scott Thomas') husband, as was alluded to in the closing moments of Four Weddings? 

In short, watch for James and Vikander's vows, the sight of familiar much-loved faces, the mention of a familiar, much-loved and much-missed name, and Hugh Grant delivering another faltering but heartfelt speech with the aid of his deaf BSL-speaking brother David Bower, but don't expect this to stand up against what remains to be one of the finest romcoms ever made.

Oh and if the hour I watched was the 'best of' Comic Relief this year, I'd hate to see what was left out! My decision to avoid the night itself once again proved wise.

Smoking Hot

Kristen Scott Thomas, Four Wedding and a Funeral (1994)

About Time (2013)

I can't help it and I'm not going to apologise for it, but I love Richard Curtis movies.

I just do.

Except Notting Hill of course. That was just shit.

About Time is your typical Richard Curtis movie. Long gone and long matured is Hugh Grant, so in his place as the traditional fumbling hero is Domhnall Gleeson who, by virtue of being gangly and ginger, one imagines is actually closer to Curtis than Grant ever was. And like Four Weddings and Notting Hill (still shit, seriously his one horrible miss-step) he gives our hero a beautiful leading lady who hails from America, in this instance, the utterly utterly beautiful Rachel McAdams *sighs* Just marry me, now.

Gathered around these two are similarly young talents but also the traditional older guard Curtis ensemble such as Tom Hollander, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Cordrey and, in one beautiful moment a reunion between Richard E Grant and Richard Griffiths, all led by firm favourite Bill Nighy as Gleeson's father who, not long after his son's 21st birthday, informs him of the family secret; that all the men in the family can travel through their own personal timeline.

Now, don't panic - the film doesn't twist your melons. Curtis may have once written an episode of Doctor Who (hell, he even wrote an episode of Casualty once, and that was shittier than Notting Hill!) but he doesn't get too wibbly wobbly timey wimey about things. In fact, like Love Actually with its simple message of 'love is all around' or even The Boat That Rocked with its even simpler message of 'rock and roll', About Time's time travel stuff all boils down to a very simple message indeed; live for each day and do so with relish.

Some of the time travel incidents are telling of Curtis' sketch writer origins and they are very funny (Gleeson has sex with McAdams on their first night together three times in an attempt to get it right, impress and just enjoy himself and later, he makes such a hash of trying to reignite an old friendship with a girl he once had the hots for that in the end, he goes back in time, and simply doesn't bother) but they also possess a streak of near misogynistic manipulation that has made some viewers and reviewers a little queasy. That's nothing new I guess, I mean people were in arms about the scene in which Nick Frost allows Tom Sturridge to pretend to be him to have sex with Gemma Arterton in The Boat That Rocked, to the point that that singular moment pretty much sunk the film in terms of critical reaction, but honestly, is it any worse or different to Curtis' honourable good guy stalker storyline from Love Actually that featured Andrew Lincoln secretly longing for his best friend's new bride Keira Knightley? Let's just agree that, in a Curtis film, there's always that little element of darkness which offsets the perceived notion of sickly schmaltz the critics equally like to damn his work with.

In the end, the film isn't really a romcom, not in the traditional sense. It isn't really about the love between between Gleeson and McAdams - who actually I hasten to add have a rather nice chemistry together - it's more about the relationship between father and son, and its fair to say Gleeson and Nighy nail that chemistry too. So heartwarming and affecting is this strand of the story, perhaps its most important on reflection, that at the end of the movie I felt compelled to tell my own father how grateful I am for him.

And whilst About Time isn't the most perfect film (let's just say the stuff about his sister KitKat doesn't really work) and isn't even the best film Curtis has ever done (Notting Hill, remember) the fact that he can inspire a moment like that has got to show that Curtis gets something right doesn't it? 

Smoking Hot

Andie MacDowell, because I watched Green Card for the umpteenth time on BBC1 last night

It's a shame you only ever see her in make up ads on TV these days, she was such a star back in the day, and I don't care what anyone says I loved her in Four Weddings

RIP Elspet Gray

News of another sad loss, as Elspet Gray, Baroness Rix, character actress of some variety and wife to Brian Rix, mother to Louisa and Jamie, passed away on Monday aged 83

She had an immensely varied career with several notable credits including Catweazle, Tenko and Doctor Who but she's perhaps best remembered for her role as Blackadder's mother in The Blackadder, the first series of the BBC sitcom. The writer of which, Richard Curtis, would later cast her for a role in Four Weddings and a Funeral 

1929 - 2013 RIP

Muriel's Wedding (1994)

"You're terrible Muriel"

A film that actually improves on rewatches, not that there was anything wrong with it on a first watch, Muriel's Wedding was that other wedding based hit movie of 1994 (Four Weddings and a Funeral being the other of course) all the way from Australia, which was then enjoying a new phase in film making; known as Glitter Film or post Australian New Wave.

Toni Collette owns this movie. A wonderfully talented actress with a flair for both comedy and drama which comes in handy as this is a film that can take you from one extreme to another. That she was just 22 at the time shows what a star she is. A naturally attractive girl, Collette had to put on 42 pounds in just 7 weeks to play the dowdy gawky Muriel; it takes a real talent to play what is generally perceived as unattractive here and she does so perfectly, utterly inhabiting the role and challenging perceptions to make it far more than just a stereotype. She's ably supported by a great Australian cast including the excellent Rachel Griffiths as Rhonda whose career had a similar Hollywood bound trajectory as Collette's after this, and the veteran actor Bill Hunter as Muriel's dad.

Muriel's Wedding is perhaps unflatteringly referred to as a chick flick, I can't think why and I can't agree with the statement. Just because a film focuses on a female central character doesn't mean it can only be enjoyed by, or say anything to, that specific gender. Muriel's Wedding is a film about life, and we can all enjoy and be spoken to about that little phenomenon. 

If I had any criticisms about the film it is that occasionally writer/director PJ Hogan ensures it gallops along too quickly to reach its key plot points, leaving the viewer a little short changed for individual depth or experience. For instance it would have been nice for the film to have the chance to breathe and explore Muriel's friendship with Rhonda beyond the Abba performance when they leave their hometown of Porpoise Spit. But this is essentially a minor quibble in what is a very funny and touching movie with a corker of a soundtrack.

Oh and it also has one of the funniest (almost) sex scenes between Toni Collette and Matt Day, and a bean bag chair!

RIP Sir Richard Rodney Bennett

Another sad passing, the great composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett passed away aged 76.

Bennett was responsible for some of the most beautiful film scores, including this small selection of my favourites

Out On Blue Six : Elton John

Oh to be 1994 again and Four Weddings and a Funeral

End Transmission

When Fiction Is Better Than Reality

A couple of years back I used to chat away to someone online who had the most amusing theory; namely that in an alternate universe many blockbuster movies had in fact been standard run of the mill Play For Today or Screen One/Two's on the BBC. His particular favourite to posit was Four Weddings And A Funeral. In our reality it was of course a hugely successful British film starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell. But in the alt reality, it was a one off for the Beeb from the early 80s with Peter Davison and Sandra Dickson!

Amusing to think right?

I even helped him come up with the notion that Mad Max was a post apocalyptic Threads style Play For Today featuring Bob Peck on a bicycle, wearing bicycle clips....a true, uniquely British road warrior! Maybe he'd face off against Danny Peacock? (star of today's previous blog and who would later play Nord, 'Vandal Of The Roads' in the Doctor Who serial The Greatest Show In The Galaxy)

It seems we weren't alone in coming up with such 'what ifs' as blogger and artist Sean Hartter has been doing just that and more in the most fantastic and creative of ways, namely by producing poster art for such projects!

My favourite of his is the notion of a late 60s version of The Matrix

What a cast and crew! What a perfect facsimile of strap lines and poster art of that time. Some are wildly esoteric, some downright bizarre and some you crave to see. Either way you can't deny the imagination and creativity! 

See more here

hartter.blogspot.co.uk

Is It Still Raining?

I saw Four Weddings And A Funeral at least two times at the cinema back in 1994 and it still remains one of my all time favourite movies. For me it is just perfect.

The 1990s were a very transitory era for me, a decade that saw me progress from childhood to adolescence and lastly to young adult. It's a journey I can often explain through film. If I tell you that the 10 year old/shading 11 year old me in 1990 was collecting Dick Tracy stickers after catching it at the cinema and that 1991 saw me attending my local cinemas five times to see Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves and had my little friends and I scouring our local woodland and making our own bows and arrows, I doubt you'd be much surprised, I was a kid after all.

Just three years later in 1994 however and at 15 I saw Four Weddings and it may have possibly been my first 15 certificate. I felt adult, and the witty romantic lifestyle the film depicted for its good looking largely carefree cast seemed tantalisingly just around the corner. My tastes were changing, my mind's horizons broadening in everything from music, politics and of course film - I was growing up. 

I did however still identify obsessively with film. This time around, gone were the trading stickers and makeshift bow and arrows of course, but I happily purchased the soundtrack (on cassette!) the script book (for Christmas!) and the video some six months down the line when it arrived on the retail market, as well as no doubt boring my friends endlessly with how good a film it was.

Whenever I watch it now, I'm instantly transported back to that time. A time that makes me happy, with the sense of optimism I had for my own adult life just ahead. Sadly, or perhaps not sadly at all, I didn't turn into Hugh Grant at the stroke of midnight on my 18th birthday. I haven't even had to attend that many weddings - and certainly not my own - and I haven't met an Andie MacDowell figure to spend the rest of my life with as 'the one'

Andie MacDowell fits my criteria of 'the one' I guess, in that, like all my actual partners and dream partners, she's dark haired and attractive, but more to the point I can totally see why Mike Newell cast her as Hugh's 'the one'; She was a very glamourous woman at the top of her game with a 'Name' behind her for this small British film that no one really expected to be a success. She plays the part perfectly for me, but ask anyone what the world's worst piece of acting or the cringiest line of dialogue is and they'll mention Four Weddings, Andie and the line near the end of the film; "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed"

Now for me, I have no problem with that line or its delivery. It never has troubled me and never made me cringe. My heart soars as the music swells to it's finale and I continue to feel happy that boy who met girl now gets with girl to live happily ever after on each repeated viewing as I did the first time I saw it at the cinema. And maybe it's because when I first saw it I was perhaps too young to appreciate what real romance felt like? I don't know. All I know is I think it's a moment in a perfect film that is unfairly maligned.

There's far worse scenes committed to celluloid in the name of 'romance' Witness The Notebook and that horrible scene where a man bullies and manipulates a girl out on a date with a hapless would be beau to go out with him instead. And if she doesn't he'll kill himself by chucking himself off the fairground ride he's leapt open to show how he feels about her. That's not romance that's showing off or proving you're a psychopath...and she accepts?! 

I guess for me I find the admittedly credibly shaky notion that a life of happiness can be formed when you're engrossed in your partner that you fail to notice you're soaking wet through, rather than the equally credibly shaky notion that the key to happiness is to be you're so engrossed in yourself that to stop you committing suicide a partner will agree to go out with you.