If only...

Rating: Null/10 (8 January 2004)

This film is fun if inconsequential, full of good performances (but
then it IS quite a cast) and, to be very generous indeed, just
basically directed by first-timer, writer Richard Curtis. It certainly
isn't deserving of all the vitriol that' s being chucked about here.
Even if the huge box office receipts seem similarly undeserved.
The network of (yes, too many) characters holds together pretty
neatly (some have said they lost track, but you won't if you're really
paying attention). It is very funny in places, though not perhaps
funny enough, and there is, laudably, some less-than totally fluffy
content. Curtis decides he's done paraplegic and deaf, so now it's
time to tackle mental illness  and quite effectively, too (certainly
more effective that a squirm-inducing opening reference to the
11/9/01 atrocities). And his big political message  no more of
successive UK Governments kowtowing to America (Blair and
Thatcher both get sly mentions)  is not subtle and might be
considered out of place here, but I thought it was a point well
made (via Hugh Grant's carefully not-party-positioned PM). In
addition to that, the film itself seems to pander less to the US
market than have Curtis' own previous efforts (and most British
films these days) with references and cameos he cannot imagine
that Stateside audiences will appreciate.
Curtis' main message, though, requires a LOT of belief-suspension: Love, apparently, really is all around. Every
character in the film falls deeply in love (nothing else in life seems
to matter nearly so much) and  ha!  all they have to do is reveal
their love and they will find that the other person is equally in love
with them! Not all the film's stories' endings are happy, despite
this, but the point is clearly made: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS
UNREQUITED LOVE!! Well, call me a cynic, but (to put it politely)
what a load of old tosh that is! Still, this is a romcom and you're
supposed to step out of reality into an ideal world... If only.