Love Actually Review

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 suspicious love, actually, is all around.

When most people think about about holiday movies, they think about It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street, or A Christmas Carol. All great movies, but they aren't the only holiday movies out there.  Of course, it seems as if, like great Christmas songs, all the great Christmas movies were made long, long ago....and the attempts to create new "classics" have been feeble. Enter Love, Actually. Made in 2003, it has quickly become one of my favorite holiday movies of all time.

The Premise: Love, Actually is an ensemble piece. There are several stories going on at once, all of them touch on love, in one of its many forms: new love between a shy couple in an unlikely work situation, a comfortable, old, married love that's put at risk when someone's eyes stray, the love of a devoted sister for her desperately needy brother, a young boy's first love, secret, torturous,unrequited love, the love between two people who can't even speak one another's language, etc.   All of the characters are connected in some way - they are friends, co-workers, relatives...The action starts shortly before Christmas and carries on until Christmas day. 

To call Love, Actually a comedy wouldn't be quite right. But it wouldn't be quite right to call it a drama or a tragedy, either. Like real life, it's got elements of all of those things - and more. There are certainly some very funny moments (Hugh Grant as England's young Prime Minister, caught dancing to the Pointer Sister's is fall-off-your-chair funny), but there are sad parts, as well (I dare any woman to watch a particular scene with Emma Thompson, or another with Laura Linney, and not get a little choked up.) And there are really sweet, touching scenes (Colin Firth and Lucia Moniz are just lovely together.) Really, there's something in this movie for everyone.

There are only two things about this movie that bug me.

First: There's a storyline about a geeky, young Brit who travels to America because he believes all American women want to have sex with British men. It's a pretty lame storyline, and the actor is very unappealing. I almost think they only included it because it gave them an opportunity to include a few super-models in the film. Dumb.

Second: There's a storyline about a young man is rude to his best friend's new wife. Early on, there's a suggestion that the young man is, in fact, in love with his best friend, and jealous of the new wife. In point of fact, the storyline plays out that he's secretly in love with the best friend's wife. The storyline is ok, but I think it would have been more interesting - and braver - if they'd gone ahead and made out that the young man was, indeed, in love with his best friend. In the world of Love, Actually, there doesn't seem to be room for same-sex romantic love, and I think it's the movie's one, true failing.

If you're looking for something new and different to rent over the holidays...something that makes you feel good and reminds you that the holiday season is really, above all, about  love and good will, give this a shot. I expect it will be a holiday staple on cable tv 25 years from now.