Review: Love Acually (DVD)
Love Actually is directed by Richard Curtis and stars, among others, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, and Alan Rickman. That’s a pretty heavy duty cast so you’d expect some outstanding performances. Luckily it doesn’t disappoint. It’s not just one love story, it several–at least eight. It’s also a comedy and a Christmas movie. With all that going for it, I couldn’t resist.
This is one of those movies that grows on you the more you watch it. It begins and ends in an airport — so there’s a sense of completion, even though not all the smaller stories within the larger framework have happy endings or even any kind of ending. Because of the framing airport scenes, there is a sense of completion.
Hugh Grant plays the newly elected Prime Minister. On his first day at 10 Downing Street, he meets a member of his new staff that not only catches his attention but makes him think that maybe she could be the one for him. Not a great time to fall in love and not the thing to do when you’re trying to run a government and are under continuing scrutiny.
Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman play a couple who are comfortable or maybe too comfortable with each other–especially when a new employee at his firm seems to be offering more than just excellent administrative skills. Sarah, another employee of the firm is in love with the Chief Designer but does he return her affection? And who is it that keeps calling Sarah. Is it guilt, duty and/or love that keeps her from having a life of her own.
Mark and Peter are best friends and Peter is getting married to Juliette. Peter knows that Mark doesn’t care for Juliette. Juliette is trying her best to be friendly. When the professional videotape of the wedding turns out blue, Juliette asks for Mark’s tape and learn something that surprises her.
Bill Nighy turns in an excellent performance as an over-the-hill rock star making a desperate attempt to make a come back and he’ll succeed if only he can get the spot of number one Christmas song of the year. His over-the-top performance playing the role as someone who has nothing to loose and therefore telling the unvarnished truth is reminiscent of Bullworth.
Daniel is a newly widowed step-father trying to find someway to connect with his eleven-year-old stepson, Sam. These scenes really show what it’s like to be a dad, not necessarily a father (biological) but a dad with all the meanings of that word.
There’s a couple of more stories. They all seem to intertwine in one way or another. After a few viewings, you notice that there the various characters show up in the background or in short bits during the other characters story arcs. All in all, there’s a lot going on. I laughed. I cried. I sang along with the music. In other words, the movie made me feel for the characters and remember similar though different events in my life. Most of all I was enraptured and entertained and reminded that love is all around us all the time, we just sometimes forget to look for it.