Love Actually (2003)
Starring: Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson and Colin Firth.
Written and Directed by Richard Curtis.
135 minutes.
Rated R
Love Actually, is the self-proclaimed “ultimate romantic comedy” brought to us from the some folks behind Bridget Jones’s Diary and Notting Hill. The film follows five or six different story lines, all of which are loosely connected in some way or another. Set in the week leading up to and including Christmas the many stories each have some looking for love, or losing love, or a little of both.
The film is fairly comical at times, and also has its moments of cuteness. However, with a running time well over the two-hour mark, it all just seems like too much. Of the five or six story lines, there are only a few that really hold the viewers interest. Two of the subplots are extremely small and are so loosely connected to the others you just about forget them before they suddenly pop back on screen. The film would’ve been much better and stronger had the script been cut back a little.
The stories that do work, like one involving Hugh Grant as the newly elected Prime Minister of Great Britain, get held back by the others. Some cutting would have enhanced the good plots rather than make them drag. And with so much going on, it all seems a little silly after a while. Granted, this is a romantic comedy and pretty much all of them ask for a little extra suspension of disbelief, but I suppose that up to the viewer.
All in all, for what it is, the film is fun. It would make for a good date movie, a nice Christmas time film or a casual weekend viewing. The people that love this genre will love this movie.
Grade: B-
Written by David Bohnert
copyright 2004.