It's only five weeks until Christmas in London, and love is in the air for a
large variety of citizens. There's a married couple (Emma Thompson and national
treasure Alan Rickman) facing relationship woes. An emotionally-burdened office
worker (Laura Linney), who secretly desires a co-worker. A widower (Liam Neeson)
who is trying to piece his life back together while helping his stepchild
(Thomas Sangster) land a girlfriend. Two adult film lighting stand-ins (Joanna
Page and Martin Freeman) who connect while at work. A lonely young man (Andrew
Lincoln) who secretly desires his best friend's wife (Keira Knightley). An aging
rocker (Bill Nighy) who is taking his manager for granted. A romantically
undesirable man (Kris Marshall) who feels he must travel to America to find
love. A writer (Colin Firth) who is pining for his maid (Lucia Moniz). And the
Prime Minister (Hugh Grant), who can't keep his assistant (Martine McCutcheon)
out of his head. All these people collide during the holiday weeks as they try
to find love in the face of overwhelming odds.
"Love Actually" (IMDb listing) is the latest crushingly happy affair from Working Title Films,
the producers of "Four Weddings and a Funeral, "Notting Hill," and "Bridget
Jones's Diary." The company has elected to give screenwriter Richard Curtis his
first big shot at directing, having already scripted the aforementioned smashes,
along with his extensive work on the "Mr. Bean" franchise. For his big debut
behind the camera, Curtis has made the excellent decision to call in
every possible favor from the top tier of British acting talent. He has also
added a pinch of American intelligence (Linney) and eye-candy (Shannon
Elizabeth, Denise Richards, Elisha Cuthbert, and January Jones appear briefly),
and has chosen the greatest cinematic holiday from which to work from:
Christmas. "Love Actually" is smug, childish, clichéd, unrelentingly and
sickeningly upbeat, and when Hugh Grant decides to shake his ass to the Pointer
Sisters' "Jump (For My Love)," embarrassingly silly. But,
inner-preciousness detectors be damned, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.
"Love" isn't the most romantic feature I've come into contact with, but it's
the one film that stands out for being so defiantly in love
with the idea of love. Bombastic audience-hooting moments aside, Curtis has
written his best film yet, and found time to direct the hell out of it as well.
And it's even gloriously R-rated!
Assembling a cast of about 20 main characters (the above synopsis leaves a lot
of people out) to follow in the continually intertwining story, "Love Actually"
often resembles a Robert Altman film if it were on Prozac and a touch of
Viagra. It zigzags through two handfuls of stories about all kinds of love, whether it's platonic, romantic, fraternal, reliable, detestable,
forgettable, desirable, taken for granted, or so heartfelt it crushes all in its
path. Curtis opens the film in an airport, having Hugh Grant explain to the
audience that no matter how impossible the world can be, there is always a
capacity for love in humanity, seen everyday in the arrivals area of the average
airport. This sets the tone expertly since, as saccharine as the plot and the
characters appear to be, Curtis maintains a level of realism not often seen in a
picture this fanciful and filled with holiday cheer. Yes, there are the romantic
comedy staples such as a last minute dash to find the one true woman that dreams
are made of, and there is the teetering-on-the-brink-of-truly-nauseating-romantic-comedy dialog that Curtis has been known to dish out
time and again in his earlier scripts. But the malarkey stops right at the point
of no return. There isn't a silver lining to some of the characters' futures,
and Curtis doesn't pretend that he knows all the answers. Like another gem from
2003, "Lost In Translation," there is a palatable sense of regret strung, much
like the tinsel, throughout "Love," with heartbreaking characters unable to get
what they want, or unable to voice their desires clearly. It's in these
delicious glimpses of frustrated yearning that Curtis develops a real bond with
his characters and the audience, balancing out the more improbable takes on
romance with little eggnog sips of aching reality.
To wax rhapsodic about the cast would take days, so suffice it to say that this
is one amazing ensemble. Extra credit is certainly due for Emma Thompson's
return to the screen, after a long hiatus, as a fidelity-questioning wife, Liam
Neeson showing signs of likeability again as the widowed father of a love-struck
child, and Andrew Lincoln doing his best unspoken desire routine as he pines for
a woman he cannot have, taking with him the film's finest, Bob Dylanesque
moment. And Hugh Grant makes for a very fashionable Prime Minister, with a
performance that is reliable in all the good ways Grant is known for. All this
is trumped by Bill Nighy, who commits grand theft movie in the role of aging
rocker Billy Mack, who wants nothing more than one last hurrah on the holiday
charts, using unflappable honesty and public desperation as his way there. He's
an absolute scream. In actuality, the whole cast is aces, making Curtis look
like a better director than he might very well be.
It's easy to be blinded by the show stopping, rollicking sequences that close
"Love Actually," but attention must be paid to what Curtis doesn't show the
audience. For every celebratory shot of a love connection, Curtis gives us a
relationship that is on the brink of crumbling, or never even getting a chance
to begin. The film closes with a moment of reassurance, but under the buttery
crust lies the truth about relationships, and "Love Actually" deserves major
credit for steering clear of becoming a complete game of Candyland. Still, I'd
advise viewers to bring floss, because the sight of a 12 year-old chasing the
girl of his dreams through Heathrow is sweet enough to cause major moviegoing
cavities.
I would hazard to guess that the only depressing aspect of "Love Actually" is
that Curtis has been giving his scripts away to other directors all these years
when he should've been doing the job himself. "Love Actually" isn't nearly as
cringe inducing as it looks (or as I was expecting in all honesty), and if
you're any kind of romantic, it's a marvelous choice for the holiday season
and a reminder to appreciate the loved ones that surround you.
Filmfodder Grade: A
