Love Actually

2003

Directed by Richard Curtis

Netflix says… Writer-director Richard Curtis’s charming treatise on romance and relationships is an all-star ensemble comedy that tells 10 separate (but intertwining) London love stories, leading up to a spirited climax on Christmas Eve.

• I was tempted to not do this one today.
• Because it’s not available to stream through any of the streaming services to which I’m currently subscribed.
• I could have sworn it was on Netflix. But no…
• I can watch it on Amazon Prime if I have a Starz subscription or pay $3.99 to rent the thing for 24 hours.
• I guess I could do the Starz 7-day trial for free and then cancel it. But then what if I run into this problem again with another movie? Where does that leave me?
• All right, I paid for the thing. Happy now?
• Sorry… I’m still cranky from losing an hour of sleep yesterday. I’m getting too old for this stuff.
• I’m actually a little surprised this movie makes my top 100.
• I remember not liking it very much when I saw it in the theater.
• I went to see it with a girl who was a friend who I liked as more than a friend who, as it turns out, would never, ever, ever see me as anything but a friend or less.
• Anyway… I didn’t like Love Actually for the same reasons I don’t like movies like He’s Just Not That Into You or Valentine’s Day or any other movie that packs 823 big name actors into one film for the sake of telling 20 different love stories at once.
• There are so many plot threads and the movie jumps around so much… it’s obnoxious.
• Wait… this really sounds like I still don’t like it. I promise, it’s grown on me since 2003.
• Maybe it’s because I’ve grown to love the likes of Doctor Who and Downton Abbey and now have a tendency to have a British accent in my internal monologue.
• If you haven’t seen this, you should know that it stars just about every British actor who was not, at the time, busy with the Harry Potter franchise.
• And a few who were (I’m looking at you Alan Rickman).
• So… yeah, I’m not gonna do like I normally do on these posts, where I give a sort of play by play. Because it really does jump around a lot.
• A lot.
• Honestly, I really do like this movie. It’s entertaining and does this hodgepodge storytelling thing much better than any of the copycat movies that came out in years following.
• Let’s do likes and dislikes…
• I like Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister falling for his assistant.
• I love the thing between Colin Firth and his Portuguese housekeeper.
• I hate Rick Grimes going after Keira Knightly after she’s already married to his best friend. You should have said something a long time ago, moron. You missed your shot. The thing at the door with the signs isn’t romantic. It’s creepy and you’re making a move on your best mate’s wife.
• I also hate Alan Rickman trying to cheat on Emma Thompson. You were more likable as Hans Gruber, even after shooting Takagi in the face.
• The thing with Liam Neeson and his son is kind of adorable.
• The guy that goes to America is obnoxious.
• That’s all I have to say about that.

Next week, we’ll get a lot more epic with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Set aside about four hours for this one, kids.