"Love Actually" Movie Review

"Love Actually" movie poster.

"Set almost entirely in London, England during five frantic weeks before Christmas follows a web-like pattern of inter-related, loosely related and unrelated stories of a dozen or more various individuals with their love lives, or lack of them. The central character is the new bachelor prime minister David (Hugh Grant) who cannot express his growing feelings for his new personal assistant Natalie (Martine McCutcheon). The prime minister's older sister Karen (Emma Thompson) slowly grows aware of her husband Harry's (Alan Rickman) flirtation with an office worker named Mia (Heike Makatsch). Karen's friend Daniel (Liam Neeson) is a recently widowed writer whose 11-year-old son (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) asks for love advice about a girl he has a crush on. Meanwhile, Jamie (Colin Firth) is another writer who leaves his girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) after catching her cheating on him and travels to France to write a novel where he pursues a possible romance with his non-English speaking Portuguese maid Aurelia (Lucia Moniz). Also, Harry's American secretary Sarah (Laura Linney) questions a romance she pursues with the office hunk Karl (Rodrigo Santoro), but her personal family problems get in the way. Other secondary characters involve a photographer (Andrew Lincoln) who pursues his best friend's new wife Juliet (Keira Knightley); a pair of movie stand-ins, named John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page), who grow closer after their simulated love scenes; a libidinous chum (Kris Marshall) who wants to travel to Wisconsin, USA to score with women; and a burned-out former rock star named Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) who is the main connection between all stories involved." Written by Matt Patay (Link below.)

Rowan Atkinson.

I love this movie! It has everything in it! It is witty and funny yet realistic and it covers all aspects of any relationship: the cheating spouse, the awkward first meeting (specifically if you work as a sex-scenes body double), loving someone you can't have because she's in love with your best friend, loving someone whom you don't understand because you don't speak the same language, and the finding of a new love after the death of an old one.

Written and directed by Richard Curtis, it has a splendid cast of the best British actors around: Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Emma Thompson, Rowan Atkinson/Mr. Bean, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Martine McCutcheon, Thomas Sangster, Kris Marshall, etc. Oh, and Billy Bob Thorton does his best impression of Bill Clinton as he is playing the president.

Between wrapping the presents, taking the kids to the Christmas pageant (where there is more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus Christ!) and pulling your hair out in frustration, you should sit down with some hot cocoa and watch this great movie!

Script can be read here: http://withmusics.blogspot.com/2008/12/love-actually-script.html.

(Back row, L to R) Colin Firth, Bill Nighy, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, and Liam Neeson.
(Front row, L to R) Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon, Alan Rickman, and Emma Thompson.

Favorite Lines:

Prime Minister: Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around.

Juliet: I thought I might be able to swap it for some pie or... or maybe Munchies?
Mark: Actually, I was being serious. I don't know where it is. I'll have a poke around tonight...
Juliet: Mark, can I say something?
Mark: Yeah.
Juliet: I know you're Peter's best friend and I know you've never particularly warmed to me. Look, don't... don't argue. We've never got friendly. But I just wanted to say, I hope that can change. I'm nice. I really am. Apart from my terrible taste in pie and... It would be great if we could be friends.
Mark: Absolutely.
Juliet: Great.
Mark: Doesn't mean we'll be able to find the video, though. I had a real search when you first called and couldn't any trace of it, so...
Juliet: Well, there's one here that says "Peter and Juliet's Wedding". Do you think we might be on the right track?

Jamie: Er... Would you like the last, uh...?
Aurelia: [in Portuguese] Thank you very much, but no.
Jamie: No?
Aurelia: [in Portuguese] If you saw my sister, you'd understand why.
Jamie: That's all right, more for me.
Aurelia: [in Portuguese] Just don't go eating it all yourself, you're getting chubbier every day.
Jamie: I'm very lucky, I've got one of those constitutions where I never put on weight.

[John is rehearsing a raunchy sex scene with his hands on Judy's breasts]
John: It's Junction 13 that's just murder, isn't it? Total gridlock this morning.

Prime Minister: I'm very jealous of your plane, by the way.
The President: Oh, thank you. We love that thing, I'll tell ya.

Daniel: Tell her that you love her.
Sam: No way! Anyway, they fly tonight.
Daniel: Even better! Sam, you've got nothin' to lose, and you'll always regret it if you don't! I never told your mom enough. I should have told her everyday because she was perfect everyday. You've seen the films, kiddo. It ain't over 'til its over.
Sam: Okay, Dad. Let's do it. Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/plotsummary and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/quotes.