THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 74 JULY 31, 2019
FOUR: JAY MAIDMENT/HULU. JEROME: DAVID LIVINGSTON/GETTY IMAGES. NOAH: MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES. SAITO: AMANDA EDWARDS/WIREIMAGE. SCOTT: ALEXANDER TAMARGO/GETTY IMAGES.because one of Maya’s speeches gives him a three-point
bump in the polls) but also that Maya is the victim when, a
year later, he does separate from his wife ... because he was
cheating with an entirely different woman on his staff.
A crushed Maya goes to London, where three of her
best friends from college now live and work; one of them,
Ainsley (Rebecca Rittenhouse of The Mindy Project), is
getting married. Ainsley’s fiance, Kash (Nikesh Patel), just
happens to be the cute guy Maya meets as she arrives at
Heathrow and loses her bag — the first in a series of mis-
adventures/meet-cutes that seem utterly inorganic.
Also in London are Duffy (John Reynolds of Search Party
and Stranger Things), a teacher and wannabe novelist
who has had a thing for Maya for years, and Craig (Yo u’re
the Worst’s Brandon Mychal Smith), a ladies’ man who
works with Kash at a financial institution. Craig claims
to love his Brit girlfriend, Zara (Sophia La Porta), until
he finds out he fathered a daughter five years ago. That
complicates matters.
Patel is the best thing here, and his character’s backstory
would make a series you actually might want to watch.
But other than Kash, nobody in this Four Weddings and a
Funeral is particularly likable, though we’re clearly meant
to find their hang-ups and friendships endearing.
With only a remote connection to the film, the series
(I could only make it through the first three episodes, a
heroic achievement) quickly sinks into a swamp of trite
writing, sentimentality, “twists” you see coming a mile
away, and characters who don’t act anything like real
people, people you’d want to be around or people you want
to watch.You probably don’t need to be told that a TV series version
of the 1994 movie Four Weddings and a Funeral is a bad idea.
So it comes as no surprise that said series, more like a
distant cousin than a remake or reimagining, is a clumsy
mess of predictability, stereotypes, forced drama and sac-
charine touches. Perhaps Hulu thought, given the often
lowered standards when it comes to romantic comedy, that
a watered-down take on this beloved property would work.
Mindy Kaling’s love of rom-coms presumably led to her
targeting one of the best; the original film, of course, was
written by Richard Curtis, who proved to be something
of a master of the genre, going on to pen screenplays for
Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love Actually (which
he also directed).
But not even Curtis’ presence here as executive producer
can save this American misfire. Actually, Hulu owes the
Brits an apology, not only for trying to get a lift from one
of their most crowd-pleasing classics but also for making
a mockery of the British themselves — particularly the
women, who come off here as catty, classist and utterly
terrible. (That said, many of the female characters in this
limited anthology series, whether British or American,
register as weak or clueless, entitled, bored or dim-witted.)
Co-creators Kaling and Matt Warburton (who col-
laborated on The Mindy Project) wrote the first two of
10 hourlong episodes, with director Charles McDougall
flailing in his efforts to establish a tone and purpose. Maya
(Nathalie Emmanuel of Game of Thrones) is an American
political speechwriter who is sleeping with the senato-
rial candidate she’s working for (Casual’s Tommy Dewey)
and rooting for him to dump his wife — in the middle of
a campaign. The series wants us to believe not only that
a politician would consider doing that (he doesn’t, partlyAIRDATE
Wednesday, July 31
(Hulu)
CAST
Nathalie Emmanuel,
Nikesh Patel,
Rebecca Rittenhouse,
Brandon Mychal Smith,
John Reynolds,
Zoe Boyle
CREATORS
Mindy Kaling,
Matt WarburtonNathalie Emmanuel plays an American political speechwriter who falls for her
friend’s fiance (Nikesh Patel) in London.Four Weddings and a Funeral
With its charmless characters, penchant for cliches and predictable plotting, the new Hulu limited series from
Mindy Kaling and Matt Warburton makes a botch job of the beloved British rom-com By Tim Goodman