Love Actually

It's pretty cool to see London during Christmas. I didn't know they went all out with ice skating rinks and enormous trees. This movie is definitely self aware of it's humor and what it's doing. It's also very much British humor, definitely cheeky. It's crazy how stacked this movie is with so many great actors. Ok, Billy Bob Thornton as the President of the United States? - now I've seen it all lol. I loved Rowan Atkinson's cameo in this movie.

It's a funny, feel-good movie with a good heart. It leaves you with a warm cozy feeling inside. The movie is actually really funny at times. It also feels ridiculously campy and romanticized to the point where it feels like a fantasy. But I see it as sort of a cheeky jab at all the cheesy Hallmark movies lol. I noticed not all of the characters had happy rosy-tinted lives which was really refreshing to see. I actually appreciated how it kept things grounded in reality and made things feel a lot less fantasy and cheesy. The best part of the movie is seeing the different couples relationships and the things they're having to deal with. It was very well written, both with characters and story, and the movie went by very fast. Great movie!

This was a lovely script, and I was surprised I hadn't heard much about this movie before I caught it on HBO. I turned it on to keep myself company while working and ended up glued to the screen. I really enjoyed it.

The movie is a series of vignettes about several different people that seemingly have no connection to one another, although by the end the connections are finally all present and accounted for. There's a fair amount of subtle satire and a generous portion of irony; the characters are quite human and often don't do the right thing. I was caught off-guard by the incredibly successful results of the trip to America, but I laughed pretty hard and decided I wouldn't have written the script any other way. Not everyone ends up getting what they want, but then again that's love, er, actually. Nice little film.

Love actually is all around on Christmas. "Love, actually" is a very British comedy about love on Christmas, and the magic of Christmas and the spirit of Christmas. It's a really clever idea of having many small and completely different stories being the focus of this movie because love comes in different kinds. The clever thing is that somehow all these stories do interact woth each other but each and every one of them serves its own purpose. Emma Thompson I think speaks to the hearts of many women around the globe, and her performance is very poignant and raw and real. Hugh Grant's story is here to remind us of Clinton and Lewinsky. And Keira Knightley of course steals the hearts of many once again. Some very iconic scenes, some great pop-culture moments and a ridiculous song and performance by a great Bill Nighy. "Love, actually" is unapologetically British and absolutely ridiculous and bonkers and I love it. A perfect holiday movie.

It has been a long time since I have seen a movie so rich in character that I did not want it to end. Love Actually is not a love story, it is a story about love. Love that reinvents itself, multiplies itself, opens itself up, and even devastates.

I am sure the film has its critics who say it drips in buttery corn. But when you are able to retreat inward and let it take you over, it is impossible not to feel. It is a rare treat - a film that makes you feel. During the process I was sad and happy and relieved. I was turned on, turned off, dizzy and grounded.

I was in love one time and it reminded me of that. The power of cinema can be that amazing, it can be that intense. The title of the movie is, perhaps, meant to confuse. Yet I believe it is designed to ask. Love Actually is ... what?

Is it lust? Or a deep appreciation of the past? Can it be conquered by language or political barriers? Race? Infidelity? Age? Can it be all of the above plus more? Maybe a mingling of several?

It is rare for a film of great acting to be married to a terrific script. Yet it is something else for it to speak right to the audience; not talk at them, not try to sell them a film. Let them experience the film. Let it wash over them little by little until there is nothing more of them left.

**** (A)

Like most guys I would never have seen this movie on my own or with male friends. However my girlfriend was in town and I thought a romantic comedy would make an ideal movie for us to see together.

I had heard about the reference to 9/11 made at the beginning of the movie and was dreading having to sit through that part. However I was pleasantly surprised to note that the reference was very minor and not particularly cringe worthy either so I am not quite sure why it annoyed some people so much.

As regards to the movie overall I quite enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it as an ideal date film. A lot of the reviews here have disparaged the movie because they thought it was too glib about love and very unrealistic. But I think you have to accept that the movie was made to make people laugh and bring the spirit of love into the Christmas holiday period. If you watch the film in that context then it does its job admirably well.

However for me the best moment in the film was the press conference given (standing side by side) by the American president and the British Prime Minister. I actually felt like standing up and cheering when Hugh Grant (as the Prime Minister) finally tells the American president to his face and in front of the worlds press that Britain will no longer kowtow to American wishes but will have an independent view of its own.

Considering that America is the biggest market for movies it was extremely brave of Richard Curtis to write this scene and he deserves a lot of credit for portraying the American president as rather loathsome and putting into context what the `Special Relationship' really is all about.

As Richard Curtis must have known the movie had done okay but not great in the States. However it has cleaned up here in the UK and I'm sure will do very well in the rest of the world too.

So Bravo Richard Curtis for standing up for your principals; you are a hero!