Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 176

Iitn rnwm i 32 EVENING STANDARD Oirtern A dLffiss A JP UJ Ql) Alexander Walker PHYSICALLY thirty-something but emotionally fifth-fbrmish his hair in his eyes and his tongue tied in a knot of perpetual apology the character of Charles played by Hugh Grant in FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (Cert 15 117 mins) is the sort of Brit twit we all know well frequently love and laugh at immoderately Grant is a talented actor and good to see a star role created for him But to call him English Cary Grant" on the strength of this film as some English hacks have claimed is missing the mark wildly All the two share is their surname Cary Grant used charm as his stalking horse handling women smoothly and surely with a hint that if he such a gentleman he could easily and willingly mishandle them Hugh Grant that sort at alL In this light comedy directed by Mike Newell and scripted by Richard Curtis he is a continuous victim not a predator Charm is the escape route he uses to dodge commitment to all girlfriends past present and future who stalk him at weddings True Charles cohabits with a tiny firecracker of a girl caUed Scarlett (Charlotte Scarlett Up services Hugh Grant as a lovable Brit twit fonts a special relationship with American but uncharacteristic cruelty to his prospective bride does true love blurted out Hollywood-style in the chastening rain dissolve his diffidence not call it exactly a happy ending lay a bet that adventuress from Vogue (US edition) having already chucked her first husband (Corin Redgrave) for being times my will hook herself any more permanently to callow young chump? In fact the pairing of Grant and MacDowell work out as well as it should in the film I fancy the Hollywood lady was hard put to adjust to her hyper-English style of understated acting though the forked lightning above their heads as their lips touch may serve early warning that a sequel is in the works and will replace and in the title No matter however that plot likelihood is unconvincing nuanced comic Hara but much less trouble" But simply to show not gay or a virgin Not to put it more vulgarly Charles is the passive principle at every wedding he goes to as guest or best man His dithering makes him totally non-threatening to women They think they can handle him and they can a very fUnny moment when he wakes up beside the American beauty (Andie Mac-Dowell) finally bedded him You can practically see the sweat rise in steam from tousled brow as he imagines himself in a Fatal Attraction fix enslaved by a one-night stand with the pickup from Hell put his pet rabbit in the stewpot if spumed Only kidding Charles: on to their next encounter only to find tarried a tad too long and the girl 1s now engaged to someone else Not until Charles has made the aawift mistake and then got himself outof a jam at the altar by behaving with typical dither postal address all the things that matter to the English can only be guessed at His familiarity with morning coat and wedding cravats is worryingly out of sync with the suburban gaucheness of the black boots ankle socks pale legs and shirt-outside-the-shorts kit he wears in town in summer on his off-day (the one when not attending a frmeral or wedding) Something wrong here surely The huge cast of society dibby style survives it Easy to see why America has gone for him Hollywood no longer grows big simple kids with that gulp-and-golly sincerity which James Stewart used to use to oxygenate the romantic comedies that have been replaced by airless sitcoms Grant is now a British export a sweetie as native as Tiptree jam or shortbread though curiously enough Charles is less precisely labelled than those comestibles His job income bracket professional status even The TiHISWCIN MTMWRMEMTi ED (Fn 13 May 630 Sun 15 7 17 ft 20 Sat 21 May) school chums county City tycoons and dames out of all guzzling sluicing ing and bonking resemb Groucho Club on 4 outing They tumble haugh rowdily through the filn istering types rather individuals giving shor performances with a lex line edited together than directed But six are old Equity hands i ladies-and-gentry garni punch-line slips throu fingers This is Britain consciously packaged fb Yanks Clever to op Strang A DANGEROUS WOMAN (Cert 15 mins) directed bj Stephen Gyllenhaal made Paris Trout and Waterland and seems have a corner in mino fiction is set in a community where Tupperware parties dead-end adulteries the days and nights tolerable the studs an affliction however proves its drawing pow Debra Winger is Mai the misfit not I much retarded as flxai Incurable honesty is tie overriding fault She speaks her mind too of for her own good obstinately refuses to herself out of trouble Anthony LaPagUa is a down at heel doum-mder cop on the edge of a nervous breakdown On the trad of police corruption he has to bend the rules in this tense dram on the streets cf Sydney 11 aSroV 1 Credt Card BooUpp Advance Reservations Free Lstinp Brochure 071 9283232 bfi on tkt South Bank Membership information: 071 8IS 1374 FROM TOMORROW HUGH GRANT FROM TOMORROW AIDAN QUINN ANDIE MacDOWELL MADELEINE STOWE It i'l FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (is) LEICESTER SO 071-0303232 BUNK WEST END LEC SO 071-0307615 WOT -N SHOWING I I ffil 1 25SKS 1 FOR FURTHER DETAILS SEE ODEON CINEMA LISTINGS v-v-v.