MovieChat Forums > Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Discussion > Andie McDowell is the WORSE actress EVAH...

Andie McDowell is the WORSE actress EVAH and ruins this movie

posted 13 years ago by jonieblon
13 replies | jump to latest

Actually...I am not sure what is worse..Andie McDowell, or the horrible character of Carrie..I mean wtf..did hapless Charlie seen in this vapid american whore? I mean really!! She was a complete slut. Were we as an audience EVER supposed to be charmed by her?? When she callously sleeps with Charlie...then gets engaged to Hamish (which is never explained)..and then counts off her long list of sex buddies? In a Post AIDS society??

She was devoid of any spark or personality (albeit that could be Andie McDowell who is...I am sorry...completely without a soul). But having seen this movie multiple times..because there is great wit and charm in it, I just do not get the character of Carrie. As I see this board is littered with I HATE CARRIE Threads so I guess I am not alone here.

But in this movie FILLED with charming, quirky characters...cute little scenarios...great dialogue..and they give us Carrie..played in a fog by Andie McDowell

And back in 1994...was there NOBODY else they could get except the dead inside Andie McDowell. I am sure she is a lovely woman in real life..but as an actress..OMG...awful..awful. The ONLY movie she was remotely good in..was Sex Lies and Videotape and only becuase she was SUPPOSED to be a vapid, souless without spark character...so it worked.

You pipple mek my ass twitch

[–] deliaw1946 13 years ago

joni, true. That is the only thing about this movie I don't like. Ugly hairdo also.

[–] ppllkk 13 years ago

jonieblon wrote:

As I see this board is littered with I HATE CARRIE Threads so I guess I am not alone here.

Dumping on Carrie is so common on this board that I wonder why you bothered to post your rant.

There is a subjective component to reactions to Carrie, but I think the major problem is that Carrie is quite deliberately not what one expects in a romantic comedy heroine.

Richard Curtis and Mike Newell populated FWF with characters who play against the normal romantic comedy stereotypes. This is what I find most interesting about the movie. (Strangely, except for Carrie, many people don't notice how unconventional the characters are.)

If you insist on the movie having a conventional romantic comedy heroine, then you are not going to like Carrie, but you are not taking the movie in the way that Curtis and Newell intended. That is certainly your right.

Curtis and Newell like Carrie, as do I. She is the character that they wanted for the unconventional film that they were making.

Andie MacDowell, by the way, was nominated for a Golden Globe for this film. She was also nominated for Sex, Lies, and Videotape and for Green Card.

[–] jonieblon 13 years ago

So..okay..they were going for quirky and unconventional..which btw..the other actors played brilliantly...as in Fiona...who comes off aloof, cold, veedddi British..but played by the luminous Kristin Scott Thomas, she liked her... What was Carrie supposed to be? What was her quirk? She was cruel (trying on wedding dresses...clearly leading Charlie on..) and oh yes..counting off her lovers - a slut. If they were trying to convey her unwillingness to settle down her make her the female version of Charlie..then either the actress (which I stand by my assessment...she is awful..I don't care if she was nominated for a golden globe...HELLO!! Pia Zadora WON one)...or I will give the vapid McDowell a break and say the writers did not do a good job of developing the characters.

I like this movie...but for the warm close, uncoventional group of british friends...NOT for the Charlie and Carrie's relationship.

and the auden poem makes me cry every time I hear it

You pipple mek my ass twitch

[–] ppllkk 13 years ago

jonieblon wrote:
What was Carrie supposed to be?

If Carrie were in Sex and the City would you understand what she is supposed to be? She is very much like the girls there, and her sexual history is very close to that of three of them. (Samantha is an outlying data point.)

Our Carrie would fit right into Sex and the City , and I believe many of the people who hate her in FWF would like her if she were in that series.

It is not Carrie's fault that she is in the wrong fictional work.

She was cruel (trying on wedding dresses...clearly leading Charlie on..)

Carrie initiated sex with Charles twice. She made it as clear as she possibly could that she was interested in a relationship with him. (Carrie: I think we both missed a great opportunity here.) Charles did not respond. On neither occasion did he ask for her telephone number or ask to see her again. At no point in the film does Charles try to contact her.

Charles gives no indication that he has any interest in Carrie, except for casual sex, until after the wedding dress scene.

By the wedding dress scene, Carrie regrets that Charles was not interested in her, but she has moved on, and she is getting married.

Charles rejected Carrie, not the other way around. If you do not understand this, you are not alone, but you are judging Carrie without understanding what actually happens in this movie.

P. S.

So..okay..they were going for quirky and unconventional..

The characters are not unconventional people; they are quite normal and recognizable types. They are unconventional in that they don't fit the stereotypes that people expect in a romantic comedy particularly for the hero and heroine.

[–] jonieblon 13 years ago

there were definitely an unconventional sweetly motley group of friends. Uber rich and awkward brother of Fiona..cool as a cucumber, but hiding her love Fiona, blustery by lovable middled age gay man and his sweet and centered partner, and Charlotte...very punkish...and middle of the road charlie..the dynamic and the fact they were all friends was very original..

I am going back to my OP...it is the actress that did not do this film justice..because I love richard curtis and mike sewell films. These were all unknown actors except for Andi Macdowell..the only "name" and I think they were forced to take her.

just as an FYI..what Andie MacDowell films do YOU find that she does justice as an actress?

You pipple mek my ass twitch

[–] ppllkk 13 years ago

jonieblon wrote:
there were definitely an unconventional sweetly motley group of friends.

We see them differently. I don't think that they are unconventional characters; it's that they are put in unconventional roles for a romantic comedy. What interests me most about FWF is the way Curtis and Newell twist the usual romantic comedy formula around. The other thing that interests me is that so many people don't understand that they're doing it.

I believe a major reason that people don't like Carrie is that they expect a conventional romantic comedy heroine, and she is quite deliberately not that.

just as an FYI..what Andie MacDowell films do YOU find that she does justice as an actress?

The only other films that I have seen Andie MacDowell in are Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Groundhog Day. She is brilliant in SLV and certainly very good in GD.

For professional opinions on her as an actress, see

imdb.com/name/nm0000510/awards

For two short defenses, one of them by me, of Andie MacDowell as Carrie, see

imdb.com/title/tt0109831/board/inline/131980804?d=185648305#185648305

and

imdb.com/title/tt0109831/board/inline/131980804?d=187339303#187339303

But ultimately, whether or not one likes Andie McDowell's Carrie is subjective. I find her immensely appealing, delightfully forthright, and a breath of fresh air. And she radiates warmth.

I do think that the dumping on Carrie on IMDb is way overdone. The people who dislike Carrie have made their point of view known. Piling on does not add much.

For easy markup see http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/42255

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] GirlyRugby 12 years ago

Are you out of your cotton picking mind??????

Have you not seen Sex, Lies and Videotape????

She is an accomplished actress

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SnapCrackledThePop 9 years ago

True. She's the same in every film.

[–] andromache3 9 years ago

I actually like Andie MacDowell but I don't think Carrie was written in a way to do her (the character) justice. She was rather cold and aloof throughout the movie. The only scene I liked her in was when she was delivering the fantastic speech at her wedding, my favourite scene with her. Otherwise, we just didn't know that much about her. That was the biggest problem I had with her.

Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want.

[–] ppllkk 9 years ago

andromache3 wrote:

I don't think Carrie was written in a way to do her (the character) justice.

I think that Richard Curtis wrote the Carrie that he wanted. She just isn't what you, and a number of other people, want as a Romantic Comedy heroine. But Curtis wanted a character who would be a suitable partner for Charles who is not exactly a conventional Romantic Comedy protagonist.He has also reversed the usual Romantic Comedy sex roles. Here, it is the woman who is the pursuer and the man who is pursued. Typically, it is the other way around.

She was rather cold and aloof throughout the movie.

I never felt that way about her at all except when Charles first sees her. Carrie is interacting with a man who is not at all responding to her interest in a relationship, so she does not have much opportunity to be aggressively warm, but I always saw her as a person who is quite genuine and quite warm.

Otherwise, we just didn't know that much about her.

We know that she wants to settle down. We know that she prefers Charles to Hamish. We know that she wants Charles enough to go after him aggressively at the first wedding in spite of hearing his best man's speech. We know that she is annoyed the next morning that Charles has not shown any interest in a relationship, but she gets over it and tries again three months later.We know that she can be extremely forthright and honest in talking to Charles. We know that she does not hold Charles's rejection of her against him as many women would. After Charles quotes someone to say that he loves her, she prompts him to say it on his own. When he can't do it, instead of being angry, Carrie says, "You're lovely." She understands what his problem is.I always thought that there was a shyness to Carrie. She is not a super self-confident person in spite of her appearance. I always thought that there was something very comfortable and homey about her, and you don't get that in really beautiful women very often. In short, she is a very suitable mate for Charles.Fiona is the one who lacks basic warmth, and as Charles understands, she would be a bad match for him.

[–] pepetoony (1538) 4 years ago

Agreed! I almost didn't watch this movie because I saw her in the trailer. I should've stuck with that initial gut instinct. I just finished watching this movie and strongly disliked her and could not for the life of me figure out why Hugh Grant was so into her. He barely even knew her! They also had zero chemistry on camera. I think Andie was a total miscast. That other chick with the black hair who was in love with Hugh was younger and hotter while sharing many of the same physical features as Andie McDowell (assuming he has a "type") so I couldn't figure out why he would't go for her instead. Ultimately my brain stopped giving a shit and I mentally checked out after an hour or so. By the time it ended I was SO RELIEVED.