Love Actually

What's the Plot?

Love, actually, is all around. The new Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) on entering 10 Downing Street, falls for Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), a new - and nervous - member of staff. His sister, Karen (Emma Thompson) is married to Harry (Alan Rickman), who's secretary is willing to do "anything" for her boss. One of Harry's employee's, Sarah (Laura Linney) has been in love with a college since the day she started work but has never acted upon it in the "2 years, 7 months, 3 days and 2 hours" that she's known him. Karen's best friend, Daniel (Liam Neeson) is having to deal with his wife's death and the fact that his 11 year old step-son is unreachable for a reason that he'd never expected. He and Karen attended the wedding of Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Juliet (Keira Knightley). Juliet believes that her husband's best friend, Mark (Andrew Lincoln), doesn't like her hence his distance, but she couldn't be more wrong. Also at the wedding was Jamie (Colin Firth), who, finding out that his girlfriend cheated on him, retreats to France where love awaits in his housekeeper, Aureila (Lucia Moniz). All while Billy (Bill Nighy), the aging rockstar, tries one last stab at fame with a dodgy Xmas single that he hates!

The Review

Quite simply, Love, Actually will be THE date movie of the year. Even though comparisons will be made between this and his previous popular "brit flicks", Love, Actually sees Curtis take some of the best bits of his other works' and put them together for a truly crowd-pleasing movie: Four Weddings.. "Love Is All Around" gets a delightfully cringy Xmas interpretation by a scene-stealing Bill Nighy who's appearance on children's TV with a nervous Ant & Dec and a BLUE poster is seriously laugh-out-loud. Notting Hill's rush to declare love before it's too late gets 2 versions: one heart-wrenching as an 11 year old takes on Heathrow's security for first love and Grant's in-denial Prime Minister finds the longest street in the world (well, Wandsworth) is all that stands between him and McCutcheon's employee.

As with any film that tries to blend multiple stories together, some plot lines are left unfinished meaning other ones have greater emphasis and screen time devoted to them. Linney's "love-from-afar" story has an unsatisfactory conclusion (maybe that's intentional; love doesn't always has a happy ending, perhaps?) and a arc that tells of a Brit - Kris Marshall - deciding to go to The States cause he can't get a girlfriend, is funny but has no bearing on any of the other stories. What more than makes up for this problem is the ensemble cast though.

Thompson and Rickman have one of the movie's most touching tales, and along with Neeson's fatherly love, these 3 carry the most impact to the heart, whilst Grant / McCutcheon and Firth / Moniz's plots are the fairytales, rethreading the Pretty Woman fantasy with a smile and a laugh. However, it's Lincoln that gets the prize for Best Idea For Men To Show Their Love as every married woman watching will want to be loved from afar as Knightely's character is. With different aspects of love covered, Love, Actually should have something for everyone, so "Go see, an' I dare you to disagree!"

STEVE'S SCORES

For Heartless Fools

For Foolish Romantics