Love Actually (2003)

Having heard good things from my friends (one even describing it as his favourite film), I decided to give 'Love Actually' a try, expecting a friendly, perhaps heart-warming ensemble piece. What was delivered was in fact a hideously televisual feast with roughly one likeable character, which seems to think that the presence of famous actors makes a film good. It is like a two hour season finale of the worst soap opera you have ever seen. In fact, in no way should this film be called 'Love Actually'. It could perhaps get away with calling itself 'Lust Actually' given the fact that almost every character in the film is motivated by physical desires. It is a film with no moral sensibility whatsoever. For example, Alan Rickman plays a family man who desperately tries to pretend that he doesn't want to have an affair. I have still not ascertained if this premise was meant to be funny or meaningful, as it managed neither. Laura Linney is a woman who desperately wants to sleep with a handsome man, but is constantly thwarted by her mentally ill brother. Again, is this comedy or discrimination? Hugh Grant's storyline sees his bumbling Prime minister try to bed the blonde bimbo now working for him at number 10. Writer/Director Richard Curtis clearly has a powerful libido. In fairness the scenes between Liam Neeson and his son are at times moving as they try to cope with the loss of their wife/mother, and as Neeson's Daniel tries to bond with the boy by helping him in his own romantic endeavours, however even these wind up being almost painfully saccharine. Very rarely do these multiple-storyline ensemble films come together, and Curtis proves himself unable to manage this balancing act pulled off so well by the likes of Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh and even Wes Anderson. Perhaps he gave himself too many characters to juggle with, probably because he knew he would have the opportunity to work with so many famed actors. And essentially this is what the film is - a vehicle to cram as many recognisable faces into as possible in order to make money. However above all this, what annoyed me most was the fact that the film tries to masquerade as a family friendly Christmas movie, which sadly it is not.