Your plate looks great installed. Not sure why you and vt_maverick is having a hard time installing the plates. However, come to think of it, I do believe that the bottoms are attached to some sort of bracket? that can get out of position if the bumper was bumped or twisted previously. With a little effort, these brackets can be pushed back into place for proper re-alignment for the bottom screws. Once you get that resolved, then you can start all four screws at the same time just to get all screws in a few threads. Then you can tighten everything down.
Just still puzzles me why both of you are using longer than 40mm for installing the front plates. I actually used to send out 35mm for the license plate and 40mm for the bottoms when I sold them back then.
Regarding cutting off 3-4" off the bottom edge with only the two license plate screws holding the plate, I would highly advise against it. You'll need at least 4 secure mounting points for the plate to be held safely onto the front of the vehicle. If you eliminate the bottom mounting points, you can jeopardize the plate's installation security and could possibly break off at time. I've some owners who replaced the top cosmetic screws with real screws into the cladding for additional security. Going less than the minimum 4 screws would not be advisable IMO. HTH.