It’s Black Friday! While my shopping today was limited to Amazon.com, there’s something more to celebrate … IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME! (Officially, at least!)
What better way to celebrate than by watching a Christmas movie? May I propose “Love Actually,” my pick for this week’s “F.I.L.M.” It gets you in the holiday spirit like no other with its abundant tales of all sorts of different loves in the Christmas season. This isn’t a traditional Christmas movie in the tradition of “Elf” or “The Santa Clause,” but the holiday plays such an integral role in the storyline that it’s hard to call it anything else. It reminds you of the joys of the Christmas season so well that it’s become a sort of traditional holiday kick-off for my family.
Platonic love, impossible love, irresponsible love, mourning love, familial love, interlingual love, desperate love – you name it, this movie offers it. Some might call it overambitious or cluttered, but I think Richard Curtis’ script is an enormously satisfying blend of love that makes flawless connections between its characters. He packs the movie full of humor and heart, tied with a bow of such irresistible charm that you’ll wish every gift under the Christmas tree could provide such joy.
All your favorite Brits (and Laura Linney) are feeling the bliss and pain of love in overdrive with all the madness surrounding the holidays catches them. The perpetually single Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) is undeniably attracted to one of the women working for him (Martine McCutcheon), which makes for a difficult situation. The clumsy writer Jamie (Colin Firth) finds himself falling for his Portuguese housekeeper while working France, despite the fact that neither can speak the same language.
Sarah (Linney) is madly in love with her co-worker Karl (Rodrigo Santoro) but can never work up the courage to say anything. Daniel (Liam Neeson) is mourning the death of his long-suffering wife while trying to help his young stepson get noticed by his crush. Karen (Emma Thompson) is trying to put on a happy face for her family while her husband (Alan Rickman) isn’t being entirely honest about his affairs.
And playing behind it all, there’s washed-up and rehabbed rock star Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) trying to reclaim his former glory by shamelessly converting an old song into Christmas jam, “Christmas Is All Around.” He’s a hilariously self-depracating mess, making ill-advised remarks like, “Kids, don’t buy drugs; become a celebrity and they’ll give them to you for FREE!” Nighy delivers one of those divine, once-in-a-decade comedic performances, and he absolutely steals the movie.
I didn’t even touch on about half of the storylines in the story, not to mention the subplots. There’s just so much there for everyone in “Love Actually” that it’s practically irresistible. While you might not click with one storyline, there are a dozen others that you are bound to love! Like the poster says, it’s the “ultimate romantic comedy,” and you’ll be amazed at how entertaining and fun Richard Curtis and his army of British actors can make the dying genre.
