Review of Love Actually (2003) by Luke N — 11 Nov 2013

Excluding the odd exception, I'm not really into romance movies. Nor do I particularly like the work of Richard Curtis. But 'Love Actually' - being the overstuffed Christmas package that it is - I find pretty hard to dislike.

There are many characters, many inter-relating stories, all amounting to the same message that love drives us on, love is the one thing that binds us all together, all you need is love, and all that shit.

But the actors are all superb, resulting in however many little love stories that I found to be enjoyably sweet. Alan Rickman's near-adultery against Emma Thompson, and Colin Firth's growing affections for his Portuguese housemaid are, in my opinion, the strongest ones.

But that little boy's obsession with impressing the American exchange student was also sadly relatable; the insecure best-man that has a crush on Keira Knightley pretty touching (and entirely understandable!!); and then, of course, there's the excellent comedic spells with Rowan Atkinson and Bill Nighy in perhaps his funniest role to date.

Although I found the romance between those two nude modelists to be very weak; and if it weren't for the easy charm of Hugh Grant, I wouldn't have bought into his story either. But overall, 'Love Actually' is a very nice movie, whether you love Romance, Christmas, or just England.

Because this movie has plenty of all those things.