The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday 6 September 2009
In the article below, we included Simon Cowell among the cast members of Four Weddings and a Funeral. This should, of course, have been the distinguished actor Simon Callow, not the celebrated judge of Pop Idol
That a low-budget comedy revolving around the social calendar of the upper classes should become the highest-grossing British film of its time was a considerable surprise.
But Newell's fresh and affectionate film - which boasted an array of homegrown talent, including Simon Callow and an emerging Hugh Grant in the starring role - was struck through with universal themes such as love, friendship and behaving like an idiot in front of someone you fancy. The British rom-com, featuring Grant as a stuttering suitor, would become something of a money-spinning cliche after this, but its first incarnation was a genuine delight.
• Four Weddings and a Funeral; Mike Newell (1994), starring Hugh Grant, Simon Cowell, Andie MacDowell