This morning, I found out that there would be a sneak preview of Love Actually. I had been interested in this movie after hearing bits and pieces about it so I recruited my husband and good friend to join me and off we went!
Love Actually is an ensemble comedy that details the trials and tribulations of ten people who are all somehow connected. This group includes:
An aging rock star who is trying to make a comeback with a cheesy Christmas song
The new Prime Minister (played by Hugh Grant) who is trying to fix the country takes an interest in the girl who brings him his tea
A man (played by Colin Firth) who moves to France to finish his novel and rebuild his life
A man (played by Liam Neeson) whose wife has just passed away and his eleven year old stepson who has just fallen in love
A woman who is in love with her coworker but finds herself unable to do anything about it because of a personal issue
A man and woman who have just gotten married and the man's friend is unfriendly to the new bride
A man who aspires to move to America where the girls will flock to him because of his charming English accent
A woman who flirts shamelessly with her married boss (played by Alan Rickman)
Each of these storylines progresses chronologically, so one scene might feature the Prime Minister and the next one might feature the shameless flirt. I found this concept to be very interesting and I liked it, but it made it more of a challenge to keep up with everything that was going on. I mean, every movie has its plots and subplots: multiply that by ten and you're in trouble. Some of the stories are very sad and some are very funny but they all share one thing in common- the message that love is all around us. To top everything off, this is a Christmas movie that starts out about five weeks before Christmas and winds it way down to Christmas Eve where everything comes together.
I liked this movie a lot. I liked it a lot more than my husband and friend (they would have given it two stars and three stars not recommended, respectively). It didn't bother me that it was hard to keep up because I liked what I saw. I laughed at the English bloke who aspired to move to America to meet women and I cried when the novelist fell in love.
Of course, this movie is not without its faults. To begin with, they tried to flesh out each storyline as best as possible. I think this is definitely a good thing but everyone had storylines which they enjoyed more than others, so when a less enjoyable storyline had a scene, it was very frustrating having to sit through a scene that I didn't care about because I really really wanted to know what was going to happen to the Prime Minister. Also, some storylines were forgotten and never resolved. My friend was really interested in finding out what happened to one of the characters but we never got the chance to find out. Finally, the movie prides itself on the fact that the different plotlines are all somehow connected but some of the connections seemed really forced.
The acting was phenomenal. In addition to the ensemble cast, there was a great selection of cameo actors. My favorite was definitely the President of the United States; I'm not going to say which actor played the President and if you're going to see this, don't look it up on IMDB. I have never really liked anything this actor has done but I almost fell out of my chair laughing at his portrayal of the President. You also have to look for Rowan Atkinson in a hilarious cameo as a shop clerk. And as for the regular cast, it was great to see many of my favorite British actors together like Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. Even though many of my favorites didn't have scenes together, it was still great to see them in the same movie.
This might be a Christmas movie, but it is definitely not a family Christmas movie. The f-word is tossed around like a hot potato and there are fairly graphic sexual situations. This is definitely not a movie for children under fifteen, despite the wonderful message.
Love Actually may not appeal to everyone, but it definitely gets my vote of confidence.
It's Christmas and all everyone wants for the holiday is a little bit of love. The story of ten couples who attempt and mostly succeed in finding some...More at HotMovieSale.com
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