Love Actually (2003)

John Chard December 27, 2015

★ 8/10

God only knows what I'd be without you. London, England, and it's the run up to Christmas, and we are in the company of a number of couples dealing with the joys and problems that love can bring. We open with a narration from Hugh Grant who tells us that when he is troubled by the hate in the world, he thinks of the arrivals area of Heathrow airport. A place where loved ones greet returning loved ones, a place that indeed showcases a strand of love in its joyous form. He further ventures that when the aeroplanes hit the twin towers on 9/11, as far as he knows, all those phone calls from those sadly involved were messages of love, not hate. Pertinent musings that although somewhat sombre for an opening, sets it up nicely for what Richard Curtis (writer and director) wants to say. A roll call of fine British and Irish actors, and American Laura Linney, lend their considerable tale…

Peter McGinn July 27, 2021

★ 7/10

Love Actually coulda been somebody; it coulda been a contender. There were scenes and characters I loved, but the movie was all but ruined by the irritatingly bad bits. They could have dropped two entire subplots and raised the quality considerably: I am thinking pf the needlessly crass over the hill singer with the Christmas song competition, and the male fantasy thread about the idiot going to Wisconsin and encountering three shapely nymphomaniacs. The time saved cutting those scenes could have been allocated to Laura Linney’s special needs brother and her infatuation, a plot that just petered out near the end, and to the Emma Thompson character’s marriage, which showed promise but similarly fizzled out with a half-hearted scene at the end. Or they could have given more screen time to Natalie, the prime minister’s love interest, who stole a few scenes and deserved many more. …

Filipe Manuel Neto October 30, 2022

★ 8/10

**Bringing together several plots, the film is not about love, but about Love in its most diverse facets… and not always happy.** Unlike most romantic movies, which stick to a sugary story and follow it to the end, with the invariable marriage at the end, and everything in rosy, this movie seems to care more about love itself. , as a feeling. In fact, there are nine sub-plots involved and each one explores a different facet of love: we have teenage love, we have illicit loves, we have unlikely romances, we have love triangles, we even have a love that blossoms without one or the other. speak the same language… and all during the pre-Christmas times! So I won't waste time sifting through each plot, maybe it's for the best. The movie could have gone terribly wrong, but the truth is that it works reasonably well. It's not a film where we can like all the characters, obviously many…

JPV852 December 10, 2023

★ 8/10

Seen this one several times over the years and still so good, though the whole Colin Firth storyline didn't quite connect but cute nevertheless. Just a great ensemble — Alan Rickman, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy and Hugh Grant were standouts — with plenty of heart and charm with risqué humor that doesn't get gross. Great movie for both Christmas and Valentine's Day. **4.0/5**

CinemaSerf December 12, 2023

★ 7/10

It takes us until the end of this film to realise what the connection is between these people who, with Christmas fast approaching, are having troubles with love lives they have had for ages, have only just started - or just didn't know they wanted at all! Hugh Grant is the Blair-esque British Prime Minister who takes a shine to his assistant "Natalie" (Martine McCutcheon); recently widowed Liam Neeson ("Daniel") has to come to terms with the adoration his drum-learning eleven year old son 'Sam" has for a girl at school who is soon to head back to her American home; Colin Firth's rather wimpish "Jamie" finds that his relationship maybe just takes the concept of keeping things in the family a bit too far - but perhaps hope is on the horizon in Portugal? Meantime, an on-form Bill Nighy is hoping a re-versioned, shockingly tacky, seasonal version of the Trogs' "Love is All Around" will put …