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Sweet Agonies of Affection
By RICHARD SCHICKEL
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2003
A Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) rattles lonesomely around 10 Downing
Street, mooning over his pretty tea lady (Martine McCutcheon). A
trashed rocker (Bill Nighy, in a great comic turn) tries to find his
old adoring audience with a ghastly Christmas song. A cuckolded
writer (Colin Firth) falls in love with his housekeeper (Lucia Moniz)
but can't communicate with her: she speaks only Portuguese, he only
English. A shy office worker (Laura Linney) is too tongue tied and
tragically preoccupied with her mentally ill brother to consummate
her passion for the hunk at the neighboring computer. A recently
widowed dad (Liam Neeson) tries to reach out to his love-struck
10-year-old stepson. And that's less than half the cast of
writer-director Richard Curtis' epic romantic comedy, Love Actually.
As you can see, a lot of Love Actually's humor derives from the fact
that people are struck dumb by their passions. But as he proved with
his script for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Curtis has a deft hand
with multiple stories. And as he showed in writing Notting Hill and
co-writing Bridget Jones's Diary, he has an acute sense of the
desperate needs that underlie our often comically deflected
longings. In his comedies people always act improbably, but they are
full of a sort of fierce wistfulness too. They will eventually go to
extraordinary lengths to find romantic fulfillment. Thus Grant's PM
finds himself singing carols on Christmas Eve to bratty children. A
horny, socially inept waiter (Kris Marshall) flies all the way to
Wisconsin hoping for the sex he can't get in London and, of all
things, finds it. A couple of movie stand-ins repeatedly get naked
for the cameraman, boredly discuss London traffic and don't confess
their love until they get their clothes on.
On the other hand, several characters besides Linney's overly
devoted sister do not get everything they want. For although Alan
Rickman's emotionally constricted businessman does consummate his
affair with his nastily manipulative secretary, it does not mean all
ends well. Indeed, you could say the wife he betrays (Emma Thompson)
carries the film's heaviest emotional weight. She's brave and -
because Thompson is such a wise, fine actress - utterly winning in
her devastation.
Her work does not dim the general merriment; it simply colors it
with a touch of heartfelt reality. But enough of Curtis' other
lovably crazed characters do succeed in finding love in all the
unlikely places that you leave the theater with your heart humming
happily. He has his dark - well, darkish - side under control. Which
is to say that he is an Englishman, well practiced in masking pain
and absurdity and descents into sheer goofiness with mannerly
behavior, sly irony and stiff upper lips. Don't get me wrong: Love
Actually is not a black or even a particularly bleak comedy. But it
does remind us - sometimes with a winning, unpolished awkwardness -
that the pursuit of love is a game that is as dangerous as it is
exhilarating.
From the Nov. 03, 2003 issue of TIME magazine
Playing to the Crowd
The Brit comedy 'Love Actually' aims to please. Before it makes $125
million, quick question: is it any good?
By David Ansen
NEWSWEEK
Nov. 3 issue - Here's a verbal Rorschach test: when you hear the
term "crowd-pleasing" attached to a movie, does it seem a
recommendation or a dis? How you respond to this may determine your
reaction to Richard Curtis's "Love Actually," a panoramic,
star-studded British romantic comedy that is very eager to be liked.
Curtis is the talented fellow who wrote "Four Weddings and a
Funeral" and "Notting Hill" (not to mention "Bridget Jones's
Diary"). This is the first feature he's both written and directed,
and it seems designed to guarantee he'll get to direct another:
failure is not an option.
IN PURSUIT OF laughs and lumps in the throat, Curtis employs every
clever or hoary trick he's ever learned, freely pillaging his own
movies and others'. Offering up nine loosely connected love stories,
Curtis has whipped up a heaping meal of cinematic comfort food,
sweet as English pudding and just spicy enough to earn an R rating.
The movie baldly announces its "love is everywhere" theme with a
montage of embraces at the arrivals area of Heathrow airport, a
sequence that could easily be mistaken for a long-distance-telephone
commercial. "Love Actually" then plunges into its multiple tales of
heterosexual romance, which unfold in the weeks leading up to
Christmas. The sheer size of the cast is dizzying-as you’ll soon
see. At the top of the social ladder is the bachelor Prime Minister
(Hugh Grant, in his best diffident-charm mode), who finds himself
preoccupied with a curvaceous staffer (Martine McCutcheon) from a
dodgy part of town. The P. M.'s sister (Emma Thompson) is grappling
with the wandering eye of her husband (Alan Rickman), whose saucy
secretary (Heike Makatsch) is doing her best to seduce him. This
triangle doesn't really resolve itself, it just peters out.
Meanwhile, a cuckolded mystery writer (Colin Firth) retreats to
France for solace, where he falls for his Portuguese maid (Lucia
Muniz). Unfortunately, neither understands the other's language.
(You wonder if Curtis is aware that, in most of the affairs here,
men are masters and women are servants.) Puppy love is represented
by 11-year-old Sam (Thomas Sangster), who is coached in courtship by
his recently widowed father (Liam Neeson). The tone shifts uneasily
from bedroom farce to masochistic creepiness in a strand involving a
pathologically unassertive American (Laura Linney) whose
guilt-ridden devotion to her mentally ill brother continually foils
the consummation of her lust for her co-worker (hottie Rodrigo
Santoro). Are you following all this? There's more.
The unexpected MVP of the cast is Bill Nighy, who gets the biggest
laughs playing a lewd, jaded, over-the-hill rock star hoping to make
a comeback with a dismal Christmas makeover of "Love Is All Around."
Further broad comic relief comes in the form of a randy, oft-spurred
young waiter (Kris Marshall) who's convinced that sexual salvation
awaits him in Wisconsin, where his English accent will charm the
pants off the natives. Then there are the shy young lovers who meet,
naked, as stand-ins for the stars of an erotic movie-a one-joke gag
Curtis milks twice too often.
Yet another thread, on the theme of unrequited love, involves a
newly wed beauty (Keira Knightley) who discovers that her husband's
best friend (Andrew Lincoln) is hopelessly in love with her. The
Hugh Grant sequences are among the most delightful (if not the most
plausible), and they allow Curtis to get in a barbed anti-Blair and
anti-American aside in the form of Billy Bob Thornton's visiting
U.S. president, a reptilian amalgam of skirt-chasing Clinton and
bully-boy Bush.
As a director, Curtis is nothing if not promiscuous, equally
embracing his best and worst ideas. This is the sort of movie in
which a crowd of strangers breaks into applause as one character
publicly proposes to another (a device that was overworked 10 years
ago). Yet the scene works because the proposal itself is hilarious.
Slick, expertly acted and shameless, "Love Actually" is alternately
beguiling and bloated, witty and warmed over, smart and pandering.
The majority is likely to swoon; the minority will squirm their way
through it.
LOVE ACTUALLY - Personal Review -
Seen it twice. (update eight times 12/11) Loved it both times.
When I was younger folks would applaud at the end of a really great
movie. This happened with Love Actually, both times. It
was nice to hear and took me by surprise. People laughed
throughout the movie, as did I. So what did I think of this
interwoven movie of love stories? Well done. I will say
that a few of the story lines could have been dropped, but overall,
I love the film. Now, what about
the stories themselves?
Colin Firth/Lucia Moniz - Hey they gave him a
decent female to play opposite this time. Gorgeous, gorgeous
and gorgeous. The looks, walk, smile, stares all there a
plenty. Another nice, but subtle comedic turn for Colin and
makes full use of his onscreen time. We all know he looks fantastic
in a sweater, don't we? He wears a few. I still want to see
the man in tight black jeans sometime. His ability to hesitate
and stutter again was perfection (the character has a stutter). The
eyes have it here and the proposal scene was hilariously done. (I
have read that this is one of two storylines some would have liked
to see as a full movie. ME TOO!!!)
Hugh Grant - While I don't hate the man, I am just not
a big fan. I liked him in Sense & Sensibility. I
otherwise steer away from his movies unless I really want to see it
for other reasons (ie: Colin is in it too) In this role I was pleasantly
surprised (though not really). He did an excellent job and was
funny as hell. As for his dancing sequence, loved it. It
didn't take my breath away like Henry Dashwood in WAGW (leather
pants you know) but it was great. Good story line.
Emma Thompson/Alan Rickman - Another plausible
storyline. Good performances, as always from these two actors.
I was not impressed by the actress who played Mia. She seemed
too cardboardish with her lines like Jamie in Playmaker. The down
fall here is that it left the situation unresolved, but given the
story, perhaps it was best left that way. This one really hit home
for me more than you know.
Liam Neeson/Thomas Sangster- Don't you love his
accent? Very good story here. It brings out a close
relationship with a father and son. (I know he is a step-son.
Bear with it) Young actor Thomas Sangster was adorable. Some critics
have been harsh here. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The idea
of this man, not the child's father, being left to care for him and
finding ways to bond was touching. Liam's character had to come to
the realization that he had never gotten close to the boy and now
had to find a way to connect. Maybe a bit implausible, but I reserve
too much judgment on it.
Bill Nighy - What a hoot. I'd never even
heard of this actor before, but he really cracked me up. Nuff said.
I won't say everything is perfect in this movie,
but pretty damn close. I didn't go in expecting to be mentally
challenged or have my thoughts provoked. I went to see a fun,
feel-good movie. Sometimes it's what I want. I wasn't
disappointed.
Storylines:
Favorite -
'love as a second language' - Colin Firth, of course
Most
sentimental - 'love is elementary' - Liam Neeson/Thomas Sangster
Funniest -
'love rocks on' - Bill Nighy
Most
plausible - 'love lasts a lifetime' - Emma Thompson/Alan Rickman
Could have
done without - 'love is awkward' - Martin Freeman/Joanna Page
Would have
changed the outcome - 'love at work' - Laura Linney/Rodrigo
Santori
Go see it.
I am going again and again and again.
PERSONAL REVIEW of 'LOVE ACTUALLY' – Caitlin from
CFFW
Though in many ways ‘Love Actually’ may perhaps be standard fare as
romantic comedies go, I personally enjoyed much of the interplay
between the various characters and plots presented and, of course,
was thoroughly gobsmacked at once again seeing The Man Himself,
larger than life, up on the silver screen. As any other
self-respecting fan would opine: He never fails to deliver.
And deliver, he does as the star-crossed writer, cuckolded boyfriend
Jamie who ends up somewhere in the south of France in a rustic tho’
charming sort of cottage on a quaint little lake. Enter his new,
Portuguese housekeeper, Aurelia, and one has the makings of a very
interesting tranche de vie that is only more engaging as the pair
try to surmount their mutual language barriers and come to terms w/a
growing attraction.
I am loathe to divulge many more spoilers but will say that the rest
of the ensemble cast did an admirable job in carrying off their
respective roles as spouses, lovers, friends, and family, in the
persons of Hugh Grant, Liam
Neeson, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, et al., and without further
revelation, can confidently recommend ‘Love Actually’ as one of the
Season’s more engaging lighter offerings.
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- 21 November 2003
