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| Release Date: | November 14th, 2003 (US) - November 21st, 2003 (UK) |
| Runtime: | 135 minutes |
| Rated: | R (US) - 15 (UK) |
| Genres: | Comedy, Romance ("Love", actually...) |
| Directed by: | Richard Curtis |
| Written by: | Richard Curtis |
| Starring: | Bill Nighy, Gregor Fisher, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Kris Marshall, Heike Makatsch, Martin Freeman, Joanna Page, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Laura Linney, Thomas Sangster, Alan Rickman, Rodrigo Santoro, L?cia Moniz, Billy Bob Thornton, Michael Fitzgerald, Rowan Atkinson |
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 Okay, okay...so I waited entirely too long to post this review, seeing as the movie is on its last leg at most theatres. Oh well, you can look at it this way: if you haven't seen this movie yet already, you can try and catch its curtain call at your local dive or wait for the video, whose release shouldn't be that far off in our future (May/June maybe?). But anyway, enough of that, on with the countdown.
Very often, movies are stuck with the billing of "Feel-good Movie of the Year!", etc. But if any one movie of this past year is deserving of such a compliment, it would be Love Actually. Love Actually doesn't just make you go "Aww!" and "That's sweet!", it makes you feel good about yourself and lends you some hope that this world is indeed more full of love than most of us want to give it credit for.
The film loosely entangles the love lives of many different yet equally important characters: First, we're introduced to the down-and-out rock star Billy Mack (Nighy) and his manager Joe (Fisher), who are searching for a comeback hit by covering the song "Love is All Around", changing the word "love" to "Christmas"..."ouch." Next, we have Daniel (Neeson), whose wife has just died; on top of that, his stepson Sam (Sangster) stays in his room all the time, and he seemingly wants nothing to do with him...that is, until Daniel plays the role of concerned father and finds out what's really bugging the kid: love. Peter (Ejiofor) marries Juliet (Knightly), and Peter's best friend Mark (Lincoln) tapes it all, mostly focusing his lens on one particular facet of the day: the bride.
Also at the wedding is Jamie (Firth), an unlucky-in-love author who comes home after the wedding to find his current girlfriend in bed with his brother. Jamie then travels to a cottage in Marseilles to work on his book, where he meets, and of course, falls in love with, his Portuguese maid Aurelia (Moniz). Another attendee of the wedding, Sarah (Linney), has a problem or two at the workplace: she's in love with co-worker Karl (Santoro), and everyone, including her boss Harry (Rickman) and Karl himself know it. But due to a constantly ringing cell phone, she just can't fathom finding time for love. Meanwhile, boss Harry tries to dodge constant advances from his secretary Mia (Makatsch), finding it increasingly hard to come home at the end of the day to his Joni Mitchell-loving wife Karen (Thompson), who it just so happens is also the younger sister of newly elected Prime Minister David (Grant). As soon as perennial bachelor David arrives to work, his first and perhaps hardest challenge presents itself: he falls in love with his catering manager Natalie (McCutcheon).
Since I couldn't cleverly connect the following in my series of interconnected connections *coughs at lame wordplay*, I'll just tack these on here: Jack (Freeman) and Just Judy (Page) meet, talk, and fall in love while working as stand-in actors for the setting up of camera angles at a porno movie shoot, and food delivery boy Colin (Marshall), convinced that all British females are "stuck-up", rents out his flat and buys a plane ticket to Wisconsin under the pretense that all of the hot American chicks that flock to American bars will dig his cute British accent. And ALL OF THIS is connected by the countdown towards everyone's favorite time of year: Christmas.
*breathes again* Jesus H. Christ, that's a plot-and-a-half...this is the only thing this movie has working against it. But in a bout of Christmas miracle, the movie never bogs down nor gets confusing, and by the end of the film you will care about each and every one of these people. Which is what they become, "people". They do what most characters never do or will do and that's transcend the limits of the celluloid and reach out and touch the audience's heart. That's a sign of masterful filmmaking and storytelling, which is what it took to pull this film off as well as it was.
Now that we're through the rough part, let's actually talk about the film, actually *gags at more lame wordplay*. Amongst the buttload of characters, the one that stands out the most is Billy Mack, if not only for his extremely eccentric behavior and hilariously devilish words and actions; at one point in the film, Mack claims that Britney Spears, as a shag, is "rubbish", and in another he vandalizes a poster of the British boy band Blue, writing in little dialogue bubbles above their heads "We have little pricks!", all the while being constantly self-deprecating about his "festering turd of a record." Although Nighy does chew up quite a bit of the scenery, he never takes away from any of the stories that are trying to unfold in the meanwhile. Every actor and every character and event is just as important as the last one on-screen. But that shouldn't stop you from trying to pick up Billy Mack's single "Christmas is All Around", which hit store shelves in the UK on December 15th. Since we're on the subject of the actors, I'd just like to mention that Nighy has earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his turn as Mack, Emma Thompson for Best Supporting actress, and the film itself for Best British Film. Looks like the Orange British Academy loves this film, actually...
Alright, alright...I'll stop the wordplay...*hears distant applause*
If there's one other thing that this movie may have against it, it's the predictability of the plot. Someone gets girl/boy, or someone loses girl/boy, and/or someone admits their love to girl/boy, etc. But I think a lot of people's problem with this sort of A to B storytelling in a film like this comes from the fact that they think too negatively of the world around us - sometimes things do end the way we want them to, whether you think they do or not. Sure, life's not some fairytale or dream come true, but it's not always a hellacious torture either. Too many people can't deal with the bad things that are dealt to them, choosing to focus on the bad and never stopping to concentrate on the good. Case-in-point: I personally know of a man who lost his job, lost his house, and lost his vehicles, and who committed suicide because of such things. If he would've ever stopped and tried to realize that he had a wife and three kids who still loved him all the same, his self-inflicted death may have been prevented. Indirectly, Love Actually tries to deal with these sort of situations by using its story to make you realize that there is always bad/evil/etc., but there is also always good, with the greatest good being love. As the Prime Minister narrates the opening montage of the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport, he makes the best point-in-words that I could think of to sum up this ramble of a paragraph: "When the planes hit the twin towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls made to friends and family were messages of hate or revenge, but messages of love."
You'll notice that I haven't said much about setting, soundtrack, etc. And while the soundtrack is one of the best of the year, featuring the likes of Grammy-winner Norah Jones (best female singer alive), American Idol's Kelly Clarkson (guilty pleasure), and the Beach Boys (one of the greatest bands ever), and the setting of Christmastime London is fantastic, everything takes a backseat to the characters and the moral of the story. This movie could've taken place in any town in any country on any continent on the planet, and the story and lesson would still hold just as true: love actually is all around, and this world would be a better place for you, for me, for Hugh Grant, and for everyone else if we would all just realize this simple, tiny, small, little, subtle fact that is overlooked far too often.
Before I go, I want to offer you a final challenge: finish this movie NOT feeling, at the very least, a little better about yourself, your friends, your family, and the world in general. If you can possibly do that, then you represent everything that is wrong with this world. Harsh words, maybe, but none ring so much more true in my heart. After all, even Hitler had the capacity to love, and I couldn't imagine even him not being touched by Love Actually in one way or another. That fact in and of itself makes this one of the best films of the year, and it would be a crime for you and yours to miss this instant classic. Watch it as a Christmas film, watch it as a romantic comedy, watch it in whatever way you wish. But please, more than anything, LISTEN to it. You might hear something you've never heard before... |
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Chris Gaskey
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