Weddings Across The Atlantic:
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) vs. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
The aim of this report is to critically analyse and compare
two romance-comedy films and how their production, distribution and exhibition
affected the response from their target audience and critics alike. The primary
focus is comparing how Four Weddings, a British-made film by ‘Working Title,’
and Greek Wedding, from the State’s ‘HBO Studios,’ differenced in their
successes or otherwise. Whilst ‘Four
Weddings and a Funeral’ is primarily a romantic film with some elements of
comedy entwined with its storyline, ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ is much more a
comedic film set around an overly-exaggerated romantic theme. For the lead
actors, Hugh Grant (Four Weddings) and Nia Vardalos (Greek Wedding), these are
the films that they are arguably most known for, both winning an award due
their respective films success.
‘Greek Wedding’ had a
rather unusual beginning. Starting off as 45-minute monologue in Chicago, ‘My
Big Fat Greek Wedding’ was originally a stage show written by and starring Nia
Vardalos back in 1997. The story was based on Vardalos’ own life and
experiences, having married a non-Greek man herself. The show sold out most
nights, and was even seen by various Hollywood A-listers such as Tom Hanks.
This led to her meeting with various executives with the intention of a film
being produced, but inevitably changes were requested – and changes that
Vardalos was none-too happy to agree with.
However, two months after the play’s initial run ended, Tom
Hanks’ production company – Playtone – got in touch and expressed interest in
producing ‘Greek Wedding’ as a film to Vardalos’ vision (as well as remounting
the play for 1998.) To add the cherry on top, they also offered the lead role
to Ms Vardalos. Hanks was noted as saying “That actually brings a huge amount
of integrity to the piece, because it’s Nia’s version of her own life and her
own experience.”
‘Four Weddings,’ on the other hand, was a completely new and
original idea, but like ‘Greek Wedding’ was also based on a real-life
experience by the screenwriter - whilst in attendance at a friend’s wedding,
Richard Curtis met a woman who wished to spend the night with him. He declined,
making a decision he constantly regretted and thus drew off of to write his
screenplay.
By writing ‘Four Weddings,’ Curtis is commonly said to have
set the standards for the romantic comedy genre, indeed being reported as “for
good or ill, Richard Curtis has been one of the most influential, profitable
and talked about figures in British Comedy. As the scriptwriter of Four
Weddings and a Funeral (1994), he helped to inaugurate a cycle – some might say
a brand – of British romantic comedies with an aspiration for an intentional
audience that included his own ‘Notting Hill’ (1999) and the self-directed
‘Love Actually’ (2003).”
I.Q. Hunter &
Laraine Porter, British Comedy Cinema, 2002, Routledge, Oxon, PAGE 184
When it came to distributing the film, it opened in the USA
on March 9 2004, before coming to the UK just over 2 months later on May 13,
having opened in Canada, France and Australia in between.
This has become an apparent common practice, whereby “(in
most cases) the UK distribution sector tends to take its lead from the US and
British screens are dominated by films which have already proved to be hits
across the Atlantic.” After proving a success in the United States “Four Weddings and a Funeral … was then
advertised in the UK as ‘America’s No. 1 Smash Hit Comedy!’”
Robert Murphy, British
Cinema of the 90s, 2000, BFI, London, PAGE 84/5
It’s unclear how many screens played Four Weddings and a Funeral throughout its run in either the United
States or United Kingdom. However, on opening week in the states, it opened to
just 5 theatres, earning a modest weekend gross of $138,486. By the start of
May, it had spread to 1,064 theatres, and by the end of its run, had grossed
$52,700,832. 3 days after its debut in the UK, Four Weddings had grossed £1,432,424. A mere month later, on June
19 2004, that figure had jumped considerably, then grossing £14,042,394 and
continuing to £19,442,924 by July 19. By the end of its run in UK screens it
had totalled £27,762,650, compared to America’s $52,700,832 final gross. The
worldwide total came in at $244,100,000, with America’s final gross
contributing to just over 20% of this figure.
Greek Wedding meanwhile
was reported to have “opened only on 108 screens but slowly built up a
following. One of its most successful earning periods occurred 37 weeks after
release, when the film grossed $4,751,495 at the US box office & screen
numbers had risen to 973.”
Tim Aller, Screen
Finance, Volume 18, Issue 12, June 29 2005, P5, Hollywood now selling the
anticipation of movie; Informa, London.
The film premiered in the USA on February 22 2002, but was
not released aside from this until April 19 the same year, albeit limited to
begin with as mentioned above before spreading its wings from August 2. It saw
its UK debut from September 20, following its release in Turkey a couple of
weeks beforehand.
Made on a budget of $5,000,000 (compared to Four Weddings $4,500,000 budget), My Big Fat Greek Wedding made a total
gross of $368,744,044 worldwide, including a total gross of $241,438,208 in the states alone,
which stands to show just how popular the film was in America in contrast to
the remaining countries it screened in. At its peak, Greek Wedding was screening on 2,016 screens in the USA, but just
350 in the UK.
Both films were fairly successful, but on the face of it, it
would certainly seem that Four Weddings
and a Funeral proved the more successful of the two. Its user rating on
IMDb is a respectable 7.1 out of 10 – equal to 71% - and fares even better on
Rotten Tomatoes.com with a 95% critic approval rating.
My Big Fat Greek
Wedding scored considerably lower on both sites, winning a mere 6.6 out of
10 (=66%) on IMDb, and a slightly more impressive 76% on with the critics at
Rotten Tomatoes.
With the high critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it is
somewhat surprising, however, to find that both films are a mere 1% apart in
their audience review scoring on the site. Four
Weddings scored 74%, whilst Greek
Wedding came in just below with 73%, 3% under its critic rating.
The formula and writing for the film could perhaps be
regarded as its major let down.
“It's so predictable;
take an honest guess and you'll probably be right on. The same goes with all
the humour here: unoriginal and thoroughly predictable,” Comments one reviewer.
“I'll give credit to the Windex joke for its initial sense of originality, but
it occurs in dialogue so pervasively that it seems to lose its spark almost
instantly.”
The offensiveness toward Vardalos’ own heritage background
seemed to be another main concern. “This film is as offensive toward the Greek community as it
gets. Nia relied on throwing poop, nonstop, to her own heritage to keep us
"entertained". Well, she failed miserable in my case. I have no idea
how this film saw the light of day, or was ever nominated for an Oscar… the
writers sought to discredit their own people in order to fill pages and act
like inferior humans beings, saved by the wiser race. One word. Disgrace!”
Despite this criticism, it rang a chord with some
international viewers. “Now, I'm Italian and even I could relate to this Unorthodox Greek
family. It's such a clever, yet simple way, of depicting the stereotypes of an
overbearing, operatic, hysterical and out-of-this world Greek family.”
Rocco C., Reviewer, Rotten
Tomatoes, April 3 2013.
It would seem that the situation can be familiarised with
people who have experienced it personally, but to others would come across
being overly exaggerated – which, in the case of this film, it certainly could
be – and thus offensive to the people it portrays.
Four Weddings and a
Funeral gained more favourable reviews.
“Besides
the engaging romance found within its core, it also has a great sense of humour
that works every time. Another terrific element is the cast and characters,
featuring - among many other wonderful actors - Hugh Grant at the top of his
talent.” Praises one reviewer.
“It’s
the work of the director, Mike Newell, that juices this bit of contrivance that
has Grant and MacDowell (whom you instantly surmise will be together by film's
end) always brushing into one another, their friends ever intruding,”
comments another.
Apeneck F, reviewer, Rotten
Tomatoes, July 5 2007
However, it too received some criticism about the
predictability of the story.
“Yes it has a huge,
wonderful cast and Richard Curtis is a delightful writer, however this movie is
just boring and predictable from the start. You really don't have to watch the
whole two hours of this movie in order to know where it’s going and what it’s
about.”
FilmCrazy, Reviewer, Rotten
Tomatoes, September 14 2007
In conclusion, it would seem that the success of a Romantic
Comedy is all down to how the comedic aspect is portrayed within the film. A
comedy aspect that is over-exaggerated and can be interpreted as derogative to
a race, nation or similar would seem to fare less well than one that plays on
more personal human relationships and the romance itself. The romance is what
sells the film more, whilst comedy is included to support the story and throw
some light hearted ‘slapstick’ moments in amongst it to keep the viewers
entertained.
The comedy for My Big Fat Greek Wedding was
heavily criticised, whilst the romance factor won over because “at the centre
of all is Toula, who is clearly a Cinderella figure – vulnerable and
misunderstood by those around her” and creates a character that can be
familiarised and empathised with; “It is a first-person story, a woman’s story,
and we care because we want her to be able to survive and, finally, thrive,
combining her love and family, baklava and scotch.”
The glaring success
of Four Weddings and a Funeral,
particularly in the states, is why it is commonly remembered and referred to in
rom-com film discussions, and why Greek
Wedding is so often overlooked. That said, the latter film did receive a
sequel in 2003, entitled ‘My Big Fat Greek Life.’
