Love Actually is a romantic comedy with sentiment to spare

Love Actually

DVD, Somerville, MA,

June 23, 2004, ** 1/2 / 4

Viewed again December 19, 2007 Updated Rating to *** / ****

DVD, Seattle, WA

*** / ****

Love Actually is a romantic comedy with sentiment to spare. Tying together a half dozen stories that range from suitorship to jealousy, romance to unrequited love, infidelity to the innocence of a child’s first crush, the movie ebbs and flows creating a mosaic of paths love can travel throughout the many personal connections which make us human. Told in an honest and sentimental yet humourous way, happy endings are a crapshoot, just as in real life’s attempts at love.

Much is required of the audience viewing this film. Writer/director Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) creates so many characters that it is inevitable viewers will form greater ties to some of his stories than others. Curtis’ relentless pace is clever, though a bit distracting, in that it keeps all the stories in motion so that just when we begin wondering about one he ingeniously transports us there. The links between the various tales are interesting though occasionally forced, especially when they all culminate in a raucous twenty-minute finale.

Love Actually has its moments for sure. The movie uses dry British humour to balance its weighty sadness. Cameos abound which all excellently hit the mark (Rowan Atkinson, in particular is genius). The film also manages to create distinct main characters and puts them in interesting relationships different than your standard romantic comedy fare. Where Love Actually begins to lose me, however, is with its trite sentimentality. One particular scene with a writer’s assistant jumping into a lake after his wind swept draft papers was especially groan inducing. While I certainly understand that Curtis’ target audience is rooting for love to culminate in happiness and bliss in most if not all the stories, I was unimpressed that a movie courageous enough to present such varied relationships would take the easy way out in wrapping many of them up. Rocky this movie isn’t, so why pour on the sentimentality so thick?

Overall, fans of romantic comedies will surely enjoy this movie and its sweeping theme that “All You Need is Love.” They will also swoon over the performances, all of which are excellent (Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Liam Neeson, Martin Freeman, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Martine McCutcheon, and Hugh Grant as the British Prime Minister!). With a combination of comedy that is very funny and an extremely clever overarching idea Curtis has indeed created something much more than your run-of-the-mill holiday romance.

On the whole, those in search of a little bit more, perhaps a larger breath of fresh air and a bolder attempt at resolving character arcs, might be better off elsewhere, maybe even a different Curtis picture. Still, Love Actually does get better the more times one views it and as my annual holiday viewing tradition proves, for every groan or head shake the movie induces there are five times as many chuckles or smiles put upon my face. And if a movie is to be judged on emotional response, as many certainly should be, Love Actually is undoubtedly a good one and requisite holiday viewing.