Shrek Forever After (2010)

Shrek Forever After (2010)

5/10

Starring

Mike Myers

Eddie Murphy

Cameron Diaz

Antonio Banderas

Julie Andrews

Directed by Mike Mitchell

This fourth movie takes a better swing at the Shrek franchise than Shrek the Third. While not being as much fun as the first movie or the second, this one had its moments.

I did not laugh like it did seeing the first two films, but I was a little intrigued when I saw the new dimension the animation story took. It is not like the path the plot took is something original, we have seen this kind of plot before: man gets tired of how his life is now and wishes for it to be how it was. When he gets his wish he realises that he did not know what he had until it was gone.

They were a little wiser here than in Shrek the Third. In the second Shrek were we had to go up against a whole lot of character introduction, each of the new characters did not have long screen time, the focus was mainly on Shrek and Fiona. Here too the writers put the focus back on them, but they did not put up a good enough foe.

The dynamic of a mother wanting the best for her son was a nice reason to be against anyone who went against it. That is what Shrek 2’s foe the Fairy Godmother was about. If you look at what happened in the movie from her point of view.

Here the foe Rumpelstiltskin just wanted the regular thing any bad guy wanted, to rule.

The movie plot starts with us seeing Fiona’s father and mother in a scene of what happened elsewhere moments before Shrek saved Fiona in Shrek 1. They were about to sign their kingdom away to Rumpelstiltskin so that he can use his magic to save their daughter when they were interrupted by a guard telling them that Fiona has been saved.

We fast forward to present day and Shrek is overwhelmed by his new life of being a father and how everyone sees him. We see him get frustrated at his children’s first birthday and while roaming about he sees a man (Rumpelstiltskin) trapped under a carriage. Rumpelstiltskin sees that Shrek is down, so he uses this against. He tricks him into signing away one of the days in his past for a single day where everything goes back to normal.

Shrek at first was happy when he discovered that Rumpelstiltskin has tricked him. Rumpelstiltskin took from Shrek a very significant day in his life.

Shrek has a timer on his head and has until the end of the day to break the contract, the problem is the day Rumpelstiltskin took meant that everything Shrek has done never happened. So he is not friends with Donkey or Puss (both do not know him). He never rescued Fiona and he has lost his children. Devastated he kidnaps Donkey and was able to convince him that there were friends in another life and the two have to find away to save Shrek’s life and stop Rumpelstiltskin who is now king of Far Far Away.

The only thing here that is an improvement to the first two films is the animation.

Shrek the Third (2007)

Shrek the Third (2007)

3/10

Starring

Mike Myers

Eddie Murphy

Cameron Diaz

Antonio Banderas

Rupert Everett

Jennifer Saunders

Julie Andrews

Directed by Chris Miller

This is what happens when you drag a story longer than you ought to. Shrek the Third or Shrek 3 lacked everything (but the characters) that made the first two classic fun. This animation was not funny the adventure was not interesting and Charming was way to simpleton a character to be a villain. Everything about the plot is wrong and every path they took to get to the end was a dead end of jokes. Unlike the first two (Shrek and Shrek 2) where I laughed along to the fun, here I could not even smile but frown in disgust.

They wanted to add the dynamic of fatherhood to the story and gave Shrek the experience for caring for a younger and inexperienced in life. So to achieve this, we had to deal with Donkey being full of words, but no jokes or out of sync comments. Puss all voice and you hardly care what he has to say and princesses all geared up to lay down and sleep waiting for their prince to come rescue them.

If like me you are going through the Shrek movies, you are probably at the point where I was like, no wonder I could not remember anything about this animation. Ladies and gentlemen it was that bad.

So the Fiona’s parents are presently incapable of running the kingdom because the king of Far Far Away is sick and his wife is at his side. Shrek and Fiona have been filling in for them and at this point you will feel, this is a new dynamic worth exploring. Shrek and Fiona dealing with everyday life away from the swamp. I guess the writers did not think that would work, what they now did, also did not work.

When the king was about to pass, he lays the kingdom in the hands of Shrek and Fiona, as expected Shrek did not want it. What I did not expect was the way out of not being a king is a man named Arthur Pendragon. Shrek was to find him so Arthur can rule in his stead. Again, here is another easy string for the writers to pull, we are all familiar with King Arthur, Merlin and what not. Instead they decided to change it all, this Arthur was a loser and Merlin was mad.

So Shrek set out on a journey to find Arthur with his two best friends. The whole journey there and back, was boring and lame.

Back in Far Far Away, Charming has rallied up an army and he is storming the land and taking over as ruler by force. He plans to make a public show of him defeating Shrek so finding Fiona and the other escaped princesses was key so he can have leverage on Shrek when he returns.

All the voice cast returned to reprise their roles with a few new additions. Even though this movie was a commercial success, it was not a critical one from both critics and audience viewers.

I for one felt the main cause of the nonsense before us are two reasons, the main story arc was crap so everything surrounding getting Arthur to Far Far Away was a sleep fest.

Second the movie gave too much screen time to its supporting cast, distracting us from the fun characters we love to see and starving us the viewers of entertainment.

Shrek 2 (2004)

Shrek 2 (2004)

7/10

Starring

Mike Myers

Eddie Murphy

Cameron Diaz

Antonio Banderas

Rupert Everett

Jennifer Saunders

Julie Andrews

Directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conard Vernon

Our intro to Shrek 2 is one that will forever remain in my mind. We have a man narrating his grand journey to a castle to go save a princess and defeat a dragon. He gets there to meet a gender confused wolf who tells him that the princess he seeks to claim as his love is on her honeymoon. What an entrance!!!

Shrek 2 introduces new characters and a powerful voice cast attached to them with Rupert Everett as Prince Charming, Jennifer Saunders as the fairy godmother (Charming’s mother). John Cleese as Fiona’s father and Julie Andrews as Fiona’s mother.

These new addition to the cast were a new dynamic that the Shrek movie took to include Fiona’s family. The movie is more about how Fiona’s family and countrymen will take the introduction of their expected princess and her husband who show both show up as ogres.

The story of Shrek 2 continues from where Shrek one stops and the comedy flows suite. The animation is better and you can notice the improvements. You will love the new addition of Puss to the male duo, as the movie was not entirely focused on them making us laugh.

The plot as said picks off from after Shrek and Fiona got married. They are back to their swamp with Donkey complaining that Dragon his love is all moody. The movie addresses why Dragon is all moody in the after-credit scene. Yes, there is an after party when the movie ends.

The lovebirds were disturbed by an army who tells Fiona that her parents from the land of Far Far Away have requested for her to come see them with her prince.

Shrek worried that the family will not take well to the idea that their daughter is now an ogre and is married to an ogre did not want to go. But Fiona insisted and when the two arrived at Far Far Away we learn that there is more at stake other than Fiona getting rescued. There is a deeper plan and Fiona’s father is not happy that Prince Charming arrived late to save his daughter which led to Shrek beating him to it.

He devised a plan to correct this mishap a plan which featured an unexpected character addition to the mix Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). Oh, what a grand addition was Puss to this Shrek lineup that the writers changed the dynamic duo of Shrek and Donkey to a trio. Puss with his googly eyes was able to break into the Shrek and Donkey friendship. The three are now going to try and save Fiona from the plans of Charming and his mother.

Shrek 2 was a huge financial success and it led to Shrek The Third. And this was the introduction to Puss in Boots that led to his own Spin Off.

I can say that Shrek holds up in 2020 easily and you will so enjoy every moment of it. They added more gags, more Donkey being out of sync sometimes with what is going on and saying the most hilarious things.

Shrek (2001)

Shrek (2001)

7/10

Starring the voices of

Mike Myers

Eddie Murphy

Cameron Diaz

Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson

I just saw Shrek again for the first time in like ever, and seeing it again in 2020 I can safely say that it still holds up and is funny.

The character Donkey is still as hilarious as hell and it is hard to imagine how Shrek would have played out without his presence. The dynamic between his character and that of Shrek is what makes this animation so cool to see. I am not taking away the beauty of the love relationship and the turn it took when Fiona finally warmed up to Shrek. The whole romance was touchy and in its own way unexpected, but the dynamic duo is what makes Shrek memorable.

I say hats off to the people responsible for the voice casting because it sounded like Eddie Murphy was born to play the voice of Donkey.

This was the animation that put Dreamworks on the map as a contender for Disney’s place in the world as the best animater and this movie spawned three sequels and a hilarious spin off.

The movie starts with a lone ogre named Shrek (Mike Myers), who lives in a swamp and we see the way he lives his life alone. Elsewhere in the land where he lives, there is a rounding up of magical creatures by Lord Farquaad, and we witness a talking Donkey making a mess of things. He escapes from the rounding up and It was his running away from the soldiers that led to him running into Shrek who scared the army away. Donkey almost talked Shrek’s ear off and he finally agreed to let him stay.

That night Shrek’s sleep was disturbed by magical creatures showing up at his home asking to stay in his swamp. Shrek angry about this intrusion found out who drove out the magical creatures from their home and decided to go visit Lord Farquaad.

Farquaad on the other hand was looking for a champion to go and rescue the princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from a tower guarded by a dragon. He wants to marry her so he can be a king. Being unable to do this brave thing himself and seeing that his army were not capable, he chose the dynamic duo. Shrek and donkey had stormed in angry and Shrek’s build gave Farquaad an idea. He strikes a deal with Shrek go rescue the princess and bring her to him, in return he will get what he wants. Shrek wanted the solace of his swamp back.

Shrek agrees and since Donkey has been tagging along from the day they met, they went together to go rescue Fiona.

The rescue was not so great and we have a confused Fiona who is expecting a prince charming and gets an ogre. We also learn that she needs true love first kiss for a reason best left for those who have not seen this animation to discover themselves. Their expected rescue and their journey back to Farquaad is where all the funny moments happen. How this expected magical tale turned to an unexpected ending is what makes this screenplay worth respecting.

This animation set a milestone as it won the first ever Best Animated Feature in the Academy Awards. It was a critical and commercial success, making over $480 million on a $60 million budget. I can safely say that seeing Shrek again now still delivers the needed laughter during this lockdown Covid-19 period.

A second part was done three years (2004) later, Shrek 2.

A Cinderella Story (2004)

A Cinderella Story (2004)

6/10

Starring

Hilary Duff

Jennifer Coolidge

Chad Michael Murray

Regina King

Directed by Mark Rosman

Since this movie was released I have seen it more than twenty times and the only person to know that will be my Sister. I have always had a soft spot for this movie since its release and enjoyed the way the plot plays out to what look like a modern day Cinderella tale without the magic.

I have to be honest it was movie I liked and never told anyone of my friends back then in the University because I knew they did not like it. The movie is predictable, no unexpected twist and even the acting by some of the cast (especially Sam’s step mother and sisters) were too weird to rate.

Regardless I do not know whether it is the way Sam (Hilary Duff) and Austin (Chad Michael Murray) relationship blossoms or just that I am a helpless romantic – I still find this movie easy to watch and will probably be seeing it again in the future.

The movie starts with Eight-year-old Sam living with her widowed father who runs a popular, sports-themed diner. Her father later on marries a vain and selfish woman named Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge). Fiona has two daughters from her previous marriage and hides her true nature from Sam and her father. During an earthquake Her father is killed trying to save Fiona and her daughters. As he supposedly left no will, Fiona takes charge of the dinner and re-brands it in her creepy way.

Sam is now grown and works at her father's diner as a janitor saving money for her dream college, while dealing with daily torments from her stepfamily.

Sam has an online pen pal she calls Nomad who goes to the same high school with her whom she confides in. They share the same dream of attending the same college. Sam's best friend is the outcast Carter (Dan Bryd) and there is Rhonda (Regina King) the diner manager who cares for Sam like a mother.

Nomad proposes that he and Sam meet in person at the school's Halloween dance. Reluctant at first Sam is persuaded by Carter to go and meet her pen pal.

It was this decision that sprout the Cinderella transformation and Cinderella story.

If you want to take the time to analyze the plot in this movie you are going to see many things to criticize. The silliness of the characters or the way the plot takes something simple like a will and complicates it to be more than it is, made this movie so bad that it is good. Then how come both of them could not recognize each other in their masks, could be arguable.

The movie has developed a weird following over the years and it was a box office success and not a critical one. Notably critics pan the movie for it being so plain and generic. None in particular found any of the actors magnificent.

I guess it is just the plain simple love story that I have come to enjoy anytime I am seeing this movie and watch it knowing that all good things happen to Sam in the end.

The movie funny enough has had four direct-to-DVD sequels starring new ladies all having their own Cinderella story. I have not seen any of them and will probably not because this is the only one that matters.

Lucky Number Slevin (2006)

Lucky Number Slevin (2006)

7/10

Starring

Josh Hartnett

Bruce Willis

Lucy Liu

Morgan Freeman

Ben Kingsley

Directed by Paul McGulgan

Lucky Number Slevin is a fantastic movie, one of those movies you see once and give it another run over to be sure you did not miss a thing. I enjoyed the suspense when I saw it the first time, how the movie makes you think everything is going one way then it switches on you. Another thing fascinating about the film is that it tells you that in the beginning when Smith/Goodkat (Bruce Willis) was explaining the Kansas City Shuffle. Making you look right then going left.

The movie was well written and the directing was done well enough to keep you wondering how come Slevin (Josh Hartnett) seemed so calm when it looks like everything possibly bad was happening to him. Now the movie’s attempt at being very clever did not go down well with critics, which I have no understanding why. My only main criticism was that the whole set design used in the movie looked so off. Everything from the office, Nick’s home down to the van that the undercover officers used, they all looked odd.

I remember the first time seeing this movie I was taken back by the weird change of events when we reached the hour mark. I was then awaken and curious to see how this new turn of events were going to play out for everyone involved.

The movie starts with Smith/Goodkat explaining the Kansas City Shuffle to a man at the airport waiting for his flight. During that time he tells the man a story about a man who got the lowdown on a horse which was going to win a race. He then bet money he did not have on that horse and when a tragic event happens, the man realized that he had put his life and that of the family in the arms of the wrong people. It was a tragic story.

After that, we see Smith/Goodkat pull the shuffle on the man, but it was just a demonstration as we come to understand that he need the man for the main shuffle he was working on.

We get to meet Slevin who was staying at his friends place, Nick. When he was approached by his nosy neighbor Lindsey (Lucy Liu) who was looking into the sudden disappearance of Nick. Slevin then tells her his story of how he got to be staying at Nick’s place and how he lost his wallet in a mugging.

Lindsey proved smart and you can tell she had Slevin on his toes when he was saying his story.

When she leaves Slevin was picked up by a mob boss called The Boss (Morgan Freeman) who wanted Slevin to avenge the death of his son. The Boss believed his son was killed by a rival mob boss called The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley). Slevin tried explaining to The Boss that he is not Nick, the man The Boss was looking for, but The Boss gave him the job to kill The Rabbi’s son known as The Fairy anyway.

When Slevin gets home he gets another knock and The Rabbi picks him up too and tells him that he has 48 hours to get the $33,000 he owes him. The Rabbi also thinks he is Nick.

Now Slevin discovers that Nick owes both The Boss and The Rabbi and he has to do what they say or else both will have him killed.

The movie is a fun watch, cool enough and very focused on everything happening no distractions, just us following the life Slevin as he has to deal with the sudden predicament he finds himself.

Mr. Bean (1997)

Mr. Bean (1997)

5/10

Starring

Rowan Atkinson

Peter MacNicol

Pamela Reed

Directed by Mel Smith

When this movie came out my sister and I were so eager to see it because we were huge fans of the Mr. Bean series by Rowan Atkinson as the lead character Bean which we have seen numerous times. We never got tired of his slapstick kind of comedy, and they were delivered in doses of like 10 – 15 minutes stories. When we got to see this movie of Mr. Bean’s character in an American setting, we set the standard high and this movie did not meet up to that standard.

The movie felt too long and having to deal with Bean and the Langley family seem like one slapstick comedic scene too many. The second Bean movie (Mr. Bean’s Holiday) done ten years after did a better job of taking the focus off Bean for sometime to focus on other people.

Here Rowan Atkinson had to carry the movie, and they recycled some of the previous gags me and my sister were already familiar with from the TV series. In fact that we made it through to the end of the film was a miracle. After laughing for a while, we got bored and was wondering when the movie was going to end.

The movie plot takes us to a London art gallery. Where Bean works as a security guard. We get to see his well-meaning yet clumsy and destructive nature make him not liked. The gallery's like managers hate Bean for being a slacker and wanted so much to fire him, but could not because the Gallery's chairman threatening them, they had to keep him on the payroll.

When one of their paintings got sold to an American philanthropist, the gallery has to send someone to America to deliver it. With all joy they nominated Bean to go so they can get rid of him. They crafted a fake profile for him and sent him to America. There he was to live with the Langley’s and he made their home a living hell with his slapstick way of living. Also all he had to do was present the painting and Bean could not even do that making a whole mess of everything and almost ruined the lives of the Langley’s family.

The movie was not a critical delight, but many wanted to see Bean and so it became a box office success. Here is a movie you can only see once and not again, because you will get tired of the slapstick comedy way too quickly and wish the movie was shorter in length.

Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007)

Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007)

6/10

Starring

Rowan Atkinson

Emma de Caunes

Max Baldry

Willem Dafoe

Directed by Steve Benedelack

Mr. Bean’s Holiday is a standalone sequel to the 1997 movie Mr.Bean. Done ten years after the release of the first film, the producers got it right this time. It is not that the first Bean movie was not funny, but the movie felt too long. The first movie suffered from fatigue as it seems the writers ran out of ideas of what else they can do and just kept doing slapstick comedy back to back for ninety minutes. That said, the first movie was a financial success.

This movie (also a financial success) was more like it. Instead of taking Bean to America like they did in the first movie which stole away all the British comedic fun, here the movie was shot in Europe. Mr. Bean was on a holiday in France. I guess some comedy are best suited to happen in an English/European setting than in America.

Like in the first movie all the guys involved in the creation of Mr. Bean were here in the production, the story, writing and screenplay. With Atkinson back to play the role of Bean.

What I like most about the movie is the way the plot plays out, we have three things happening and three people traveling together all being the lead in the the three things.

Here is how they all tie up, first we have Mr. Bean who won a holiday by train to Cannes, a video camera, and €200 spending money. Second, we have Stepan (Max Baldry) who Bean mistakenly kidnaps when he ask the boy’s father to film him doing some weird stuff with the train. Stepan was already on the train and because of Bean the father misses the train. So the father reports his child taken.

Bean feeling responsible decides to take the boy with him and reunite him with his father. But series of unfortunate events led to Bean losing the boy and finding himself hitchhiking where he is picked up by aspiring actress Sabine. Sabine is the the third person in this trio (Emma de Caunes) who is on her way to Cannes Film Festival where the film in which she makes her acting debut is to be presented. On their way to Cannes they find Stepan pick him up and all three go on the ride to Cannes. Where another set of mishaps happens and you have to see to know how everything ended up.

The movie is very funny and one of the best things in the end is seeing how the self obsessed film producer Carson Clay (Willem Dafoe) wanted to make a movie that focused solely on him. It was so funny to see it happen.

I will be watching this movie again later in the week, and in 2020 the comedy still holds up.

Johnny English (2003)

Johnny English (2003)

7/10

Starring

Rowan Atkinson

Natalie Imbruglia

Ben Miller

John Malkovich

Directed by Peter Howitt

The first Johnny English movie opened the door to the two sequels that follow and the movie is funny and does one of the best spoofs of James Bond you can catch on screen. The inept character Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is socially awkward and so oblivious of everything that it is hard to imagine how things would turn out good for him and his partners.

The movie also has in its casts Natalie Imbruglia the Austalian-British singer. The movie carters to the way spy spoof films are done, English has a partner who is not as bumbling as he is in Angus (Ben Miller). Angus is the anchor to which English moves about, and his capabilities are the only reason English survives.

The comedy both physical and not, were so well crafted to sit into the way Atkinson has been seen portraying characters like Mr. Bean. The character English is based on TV advert character Richard Latham which Atkinson portrayed, which was a somewhat bumbling character.

For a comedic spoof of 007 this movie went a little strong on the plot. Most spoofs also have villains who are just as eccentric as the lead. The plot’s villain here is calm and collected, the plot and plot holes deal with some serious elements they managed to craft into gags.

You will enjoy the way they make English seem incapable of doing anything right and not make him so awkward it irritates. He is just a lucky character who gets to be an agent not be choice of MI7, but situations beyond their control.

Here is how English got to be the top agent on a case beyond his mental capability. After some series of unfortunate events caused by him led to the death of like all top MI7 agents the only sole agent available to complete an ongoing mission was English. He was to stop the possible theft of the crown jewels at the Tower of London, and it was there that he met Interpol agent Lorna (Imbruglia). The jewels were stolen regardless of his presence.

English discovers with the aid of Angus (his partner) how the thieves stole the Jewels and they began an investigation which led to Pascal Sauvage. English and Angus joined by Lorna started to build the case to discover what Sauvage has planned.

They soon discover that the whole England is in trouble as Sauvage’s plan deals with him being the new King of England. English and his crew must stop him before his plans come to pass. The challenge is that Sauvage seems to always be a step ahead, solely because he is smart and English is silly.

The movie was a box office success which then led to the production of two sequels Johnny English Reborn (2011) and Johnny English Strikes Back (2018).

Pretty Woman (1990)

Pretty Woman (1990)

7/10

Starring

Richard Gere

Julia Roberts

Hector Elizondo

Jason Alexander

Directed by Garry Marshall

Pretty Woman is a romantic classic and even though as you would expect from something that Disney has a hand in production it is not realistic, we get a sort of Disney style fairy tale. Here the man rescues the lady from the mean life of the street and she saves him in return from the meanness of himself.

That said, Pretty Woman is one of those movies you will never forget seeing, it is a classic Rom-Com where the comedy hits home at the right places and the romance is well tuned to get you to go all mushy.

The movie plot is about a business man Edward (Richard Gere) who misses his way and ends up in at a Red Light District. There he meets a prostitute named Vivian (Julia Roberts) who charges him $20 to guide him to where he was going. He likes the way she carried herself and offers her money to be his pretend girl friend for a week, so he can show her off at social events he had to do that week.

He gave her money for to buy new clothes and look fashionable for the events.

He falls for her when he sees a cleaned up version of Vivian and a sort of relationship starts which was not meant to be as they were from two different sides of the world. But will Edward let that stop him?

That is what this movie answers.

With the way movies are written now-a-days with female heroines and all the stand for yourself stuff, this movie may not age well in many scenes. But the romance and comedy still resonates. The main thing about this movie that makes it one of the top romantic movies to see regardless of what the critics say about it, is the acting of leads. Julia Roberts and Richard Gere made a fine onscreen couple.

Their portrayal of their roles will forever remain glued in your mind when you see this movie, (if you have not see it before) and it was this movie that introduced me to Roberts.

Over the years her numerous Rom-Coms in the 90s have been legendary films I will forever see though whenever I catch them on TV. Roberts won a Golden Globe for this movie and as said Roberts did some of her best Rom-Coms work in the 90s. Two I will forever cherish as classics are My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) and Notting Hill (1999).

The movie is directed by the late Garry Marshall [New Year’s Eve (2011)] who did a fantastic job in his interpretation. Marshall also worked with Roberts in Valentine’s Day (2010) and Mother’s Day (2016).

The movie was a huge box office success worldwide and has been developed into a musical and has an amazing soundtrack.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

6/10

Starring

Hugh Grant

Andie MacDowell

Kristin Scott Thomas

Simon Callow

Directed by Mike Newell

Four Weddings and a Funeral is one of those movies in the 90s that became something we all talked about. It has to do with the lives of friends who meet at social occasions and a romantic story which stars Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell.

This movie became the first in the many collaboration between Grant and screen writer Richard Curtis and has been tagged as one of the best comedies you can see.

The movie is filled with some engaging comedic conversations which I have to give credit to Curtis for crafting. The movie is about a bunch of friends all having to deal with the life of being single and going to social events. At one wedding Charles (Grant) meets Carrie (MacDowell) and they spend some nights together before she goes back to America. They meet again at another wedding and there Charles realize that he has not in the past been the best of boyfriends. They spend another night together and Charles again failed to take the chance of making Carrie his.

The next time they meet was at another wedding and there Charles realize that he has missed his chance with Carrie and now there is a funeral of one of his crew to attend. At the funeral Charles is faced to ponder if he will ever find true love.

There is another wedding after the funeral and there Charles has to choose whether to go for Carrie or settle with the one he is with.

The above synopsis is like so, so as not to drop spoilers on who is getting married and who is being buried.

Made with about $5 million the movie went on to be an unexpected huge success grossing over $245 million. The movie production was done with a tight budget, where they had to retain cast so as not to pay for more and some of the extras came with their own clothes.

The movie happens to be this successful because of Curtis writing, Grant’s fantastic performance and Mike Newell’s direction.

It went on to receive an Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (for Curtis). The movie also won for Grant the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor. Also at the BAFTAs it won Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Scott Thomas.

This was the film that propelled Grant to stardom and seeing it now, the movie is still funny and easy to enjoy.