On Nov. 7, 2003, the ensemble romantic comedy hit theaters across America. The film, Love Actually, would later become a (much-debated) holiday staple on television screens. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:
Love Actually reminds you of an elaborate Christmas card that tumbles apart with pop-up figures, silly/charming greetings and perhaps even a jingle. It probably cost more than the gift it heralds, and you can’t help but laugh at the audacity of such an aggressively cheerful card. Clearly, the gift giver wants to love and be loved, and only a Scrooge would deny him his reward. But you also wish he’d heard the phrase “less is more.”
The gift giver is Richard Curtis, a writer (Four Weddings and a Funeral,Notting Hill) and, for the first time here, director of comedies that focus on the pursuit of love. Curtis’ real gift is that of sharp, rapid-fire dialogue, easily recognizable characters, a benign view of humanity and a knack for making sentimentality feel righteous. This movie, for all its calculation and manipulation, comes from a true believer. He really does believe — as Oscar Hammerstein II once insisted a composer such as himself must — in “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.” Audiences should respond to the determinedly feel-good nature of Love Actuallyas a top-flight cast of (mostly) British actors sells its love message very well.
The movie is less a traditional story than an elaboration of a theme. This gets pronounced by a narrator at the opening as you watch friends and family tearfully greet at London’s 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. Seems to me that love is everywhere.”
The movie flips among myriad stories in the weeks before Christmas, none terribly original or compelling in itself, but in the aggregate they illustrate Curtis’ theme. A new bachelor prime minister (Hugh Grant) walks into 10 Downing Street and is immediately smitten with a staff member (Martine McCutcheon). A recently widowed stepfather (Liam Neeson) struggles to forge a deeper relationship with his late wife’s son (Thomas Sangster). An executive (Alan Rickman) encourages a female employee (Laura Linney) to act on her longtime crush on a fellow worker (Rodrigo Santoro), even as he debates the wisdom of falling into an affair with a most willing colleague (Heike Makatsch), thus betraying his wife of many years (Emma Thompson).
A bride (Keira Knightley) comes to realize that her husband’s best mate (Andrew Lincoln) is madly in love with her. A cuckolded novelist (Colin Firth) flees to the south of France only to become infatuated with the Portuguese maid (Lucia Moniz) despite their inability to speak each other’s language. An aging rock star (a hilarious Bill Nighy) launches a comeback with a Christmas song he knows is crap and freely says so on a truth-telling tour.
Squeezed between these subplots are eminently disposable ones such as two movie stand-ins who shyly fall in love while entirely naked or a food vendor who believes a trip to any bar in America will yield a bevy of beauties to fall for his English accent.
These plot threads (and they really are threads) contain little substance. Each is intriguing, but with the exception of the widower and stepson, none achieves any resonance. All are too fragmentary, though containing enough clever dialogue and sexy moments to distract from the sheer flimsiness.
The production is a winning one, with London turned into a winter wonderland with a side excursion to a rather summery-looking France. As always with a Curtis comedy, the stories pivot around major set pieces — a wedding, funeral, a school Christmas pageant and an implausible news conference in which the British PM dresses down an arrogant American president (Billy Bob Thornton). Curtis imbues his tales of broken hearts and ecstatic adoration with a festive passion and a cheerful optimism that sweeps the viewer up. It’s only afterward that you wonder when the writer fell in love with the maid or why a prime minister would have no social life or how the wife forgave her wandering husband.
Bottom Line: A blizzard of Christmas stories, each insubstantial as a snowflake, but cumulatively they smother you in good cheer. — Kirk Honeycutt
Twitter: @THRArchives
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FAQs
“Love Actually,” which opens today nationwide, is an indigestible Christmas pudding from the British whimsy factory responsible for such reasonably palatable confections as “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill” and “Bridget Jones's Diary.” A romantic comedy swollen to the length of an Oscar-trawling epic — ...
What is the inappropriate scene in Love Actually? ›
Love Actually has some nudity and sexual activity. For example: John and Judy perform several sex scenes, simulating sex and oral sex. They are both naked and John is told to massage Judy's breasts.
Is Love Actually worth watching? ›
With its talented cast, touching stories, and memorable soundtrack, it has earned its place as a beloved holiday favorite. If you're looking for a feel-good movie that celebrates love and the human spirit, Love Actually is the perfect choice.
What happened to Sam's real dad in Love Actually? ›
(Sam's real father's fate is never mentioned, he could be Tony Blair for all we know). The two negotiate their grief together as Sam is in love with a 10-year-old chanteuse named — heavy sigh — Joanna. Sam learns the drums so he can play in her Christmas band.
How old was Hugh Grant in Love Actually? ›
When Love Actually was released in 2003, Hugh Grant was 43 years old. Since Love Actually, Hugh Grant has continued to have a successful career with many roles in films such as Paddington 2 and The Undoing. He has also become a father to five children and got married for the first time in 2018.
Why don't people like Love Actually? ›
Firstly, there's the lack of diversity, which Curtis admitted this week makes him “uncomfortable”. Then there's the fact that all of the relationships are heterosexual (a same-sex storyline, with Frances De La Tour and Anne Reid, was cut).
Did he actually cheat in Love Actually? ›
Yep, Alan Rickman's character definitely had an affair
"DEFINITELY had an affair. I begged [director Curtis] just to make it a flirtation, but no.
What is the most iconic scene in the Love Actually? ›
Love Actually features a number of memorable moments, but perhaps the most iconic scene from the film involves Mark (Andrew Lincoln) turning up at Juliet's (Keira Knightley) house and professing his love for her with a series of cue cards.
What is the message in Love Actually? ›
After all, it deals primarily with love in all its forms and, at the end of the day, isn't that what everyone wants for Christmas? The overriding message is that the holidays are better when you spend them with the people who care about you and that's good enough for us.
How old was Keira Knightley in Love Actually? ›
Instead, I'm still trying to process the fact that Keira Knightley, who was 18 at the time of filming, was closer in age to Thomas Brodie-Sangster (who played Liam Neeson's primary-school-aged son in the film) than she was to her fictional husband Peter (played by 26-year-old Chiwetel Ejiofor).
Olivia Olson(I)
She is an actress and writer, known for Adventure Time (2010), Love Actually (2003) and Red Nose Day Actually (2017)
Do Harry and Karen stay together in Love Actually? ›
But in the end, Harry and Karen stayed together.
How is Karen related to Daniel in Love Actually? ›
Daniel (Liam Neeson), Karen's close friend, mourns the recent death of his wife, Joanna, as he tries to care for his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster).
Did Hugh Grant not want to dance in Love Actually? ›
“I saw it in the script and I thought, 'Well, I'll hate doing that'. I didn't fancy doing the dance at all, let alone rehearsing it,” Grant said. “To this day, there's many people, and I agree with them, who think it's the most excruciating scene ever committed to celluloid.
What is the last line in Love Actually? ›
The final lines of LOVE ACTUALLY, are the Prime Minister telling his new lover, who is fit but about whom fat jokes have been made throughout, "God, you weigh a lot," to which she replies, "Oh shut your face." That's it. That's the end of the movie.
Are Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant still friends? ›
Despite the movie's heavy success, it did not help build a friendship between the two mega actors. After the movie was done, years later, they still do not keep in touch.
Did they cut scenes from Love Actually? ›
Love Actually originally featured two additional plotlines: one featuring a lesbian couple, and the other a man and woman in Africa. Neither ever made it to the final cut.
Who is the hot girl in Love Actually? ›
Olivia Olson(I)
Olivia Olson was born on 21 May 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Does you have inappropriate scenes? ›
Sex, Romance & Nudity
Lots of sexual moments, including simulated sex acts that reveal a lot of skin, including a bare backside.
Are there any inappropriate scenes in the love hypothesis? ›
Violence & Scariness
An incident of verbal sexual assault with an attempted kiss and coercion. An excerpt at the end from a future book has sexual harassment and cyberbullying. A man pins another against a wall by the collar and threatens to kill him.
