Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

While I've heard of Four Wedding and a Funeral many times over the years, always from people who enjoyed the film, I never watched it because of Hugh Grant — I'm probably the only woman in the world who feels this way but I don't like him. 

The story follows a small group of friends as they attend four weddings and a funeral of mutual friends or acquaintances — hence the title —, and it mainly focuses on Charles (Hugh Grant), a carefree bachelor who is some sort of perpetual Best Man. At the first wedding though, he meets Carrie (Andie MacDowell), a young, free-spirited American woman, and falls in love with her, and over the course of the four following gatherings, he reassesses his thoughts on marriage.

It's definitely not your standard love story, I'll give the film that, but the plot is nearly non-existent, it's filled with holes and it's incredibly predictable for most of its running time —while I was expecting someone else to die, the happy ending can be foreseen from the very beginning.

The characters didn't particularly strike me either. They are barely characterized, they don't have any depth, especially the supporting characters, and no backstories — I read that they are given in a deleted scene, but they needed to be in the film — and because of these lacks, it's almost impossible to care about any of them.

And yet, I did care about them. Actually, I cared about Charles, the self-centred bachelor played by Hugh Grant, the reason I didn't watch the film before. My heart ached when Carrie kept turning him down and when she went on marrying that old dude, as I really wanted Charles to be happy and the credits entirely go to Grant. He gives such a charming performance and gives the character just the right amount of insecurity that it makes it hard if not impossible to not root for him.

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The supporting cast does a fine job, the most memorable being Kristin Scott Thomas and Rowan Atkinson in the role of Charles's enigmatic friend Fiona and Father Gerald respectively.

Thankfully, the cast isn't the only enjoyable aspect of Four Weddings and a Funeral as the film is filled with charming, subtle British humour and some nice slapstick and manages to be quite funny throughout its running time.

Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)

Mr. Bean's Holiday is one of those movies my family and I used to watch every year during the holidays. I don't know when, but at some point we stopped watching it and I completely forgot about it. Then, earlier this December, I had oysters, I recalled of that scene and thought it was about time to give it a rewatch. 

The film follows Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) as he travels to Cannes, Frances, a vacation he won at the church raffle. At the Gare de Lyon, he accidentally separates a young Russian boy (Max Baldry) from his father (Karel Roden), and he must put aside his selfishness to help the kid meet back up with his father.

Mr. Bean's Holiday's isn't a complex plot and, as you know if you are familiar with Mr. Bean —who isn't though—, it's absolutely ridiculous. Simple and far-fetched doesn't necessarily mean bad and it doesn't here as the story is quite engaging and enjoyable.

Also, it's the simple story that allows the film to focus more on its characters, specifically on Mr. Bean. He doesn't have any more depth that he has in the TV series, but he still is the goofy, silly man who finds himself in the most absurd situations, the funny and lovable guy everyone loves, and the filmmakers make a good use of him. As for the people Bean meets on his trip, they are decently written —they pretty thing and one-dimensional and yet there's something about each of them that makes you remember about them, and care about some of them.

As for the cast, Rowan Atkinson still plays the part of Mr. Bean very well: he's amazingly funny with his expressive face and slapstick —he sure doesn't need witty dialogue to make his audience laugh. Emma de Caunes is very charming as Sabine, a French girl who helps Mr. Beans, and Max Baldry is lovable as the kid who got separated from the father. However, the standout for me was Willem Dafoe in the role of a pretentious actor and director as he pokes fun at those filmmakers who are full of themselves assholes.

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Steve Bendelack's direction isn't anything special but he lets the story unfold at a nice pace, the editing is nice and the cinematography does a good job at capturing the beautiful French locations.

Ultimately, Mr. Bean's Holiday isn't a first-class comedy but if you like old-fashioned slapstick, and you're looking for a comedy the whole family can enjoy, with no foul language, nudity or offensive jokes, this film might do for you.

Johnny English (2003)

Earlier this month, the trailer for Johnny English Strikes Again dropped. It was funish so I decided I'd rewatch the first film before the new one. I had no idea there was a second movie, Johnny English Reborn, and now that I've rewatched Johnny English, I realised that I hadn't seen this one either.

This one goes like this. When Agent Number One (Greg Wise) is killed and so are all the other MI7 spies while attending Number One's funeral, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson), the only British spy left, is tasked to protect the British Crown Jewels. But he fails to do that and the crown is stolen. With the help of his assistant, Bough (Ben Miller), Johnny starts investigating the theft and the prime suspect is a mysterious French entrepreneuer, Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich).

An obvious parody of James Bond, the plot is simple, rather weak, sloppy, beyond predictable --there are some twists but you can see them coming miles ahead-- and has plenty of holes, but it's decent enough to keep you interested and entertained.

The plot, however, isn't really the thing about Johnny English that keeps you entertained. That would be Rowan Atkinson. He is the glue that keeps the film together and prevents it from being tedious. His portayal of Johnny English, the most clumpy and imcompetent spy ever --even his sidekick is a better spy than he is--, is excellent. Atkinson uses his comedic abilities very well and his deliveries are always funny, even with most of the jokes and gags being incredibily predictable.

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The supporting cast is also worth of a mention. While Natalie Imbruglia should stick with singing as she does a way better job in that field, Ben Miller does a good job as Bough, English's assistant. The stand out, however, easily is John Malkovich. He plays Pascal Sauvage, easily the most silly character he has ever played. He is given no funny lines whatsoever and he can only rely on a ridiculous French accent to make the audience laugh, but he manages to make that work. The character is quirky and absurd but Malkovich makes you believe such a person could actually exist.

As I mentioned above, the comedy isn't Johnny English's strongest suit. It's very predictable, gags and jokes often feel forced and the laughs don't come as fast as they should, but overall it works.

Ultimately, this is not The Naked Gun, but it's still worth the time if you are looking to a silly movie to entertain you.