Actually, Bill Nighy Gets All the Love Here.

Rating: 8/10 (16 September 2015)

Love Actually (2003): Dir: Richard Curtis / Cast: Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley: Supposedly a portrait of love featuring husbands, wives, grandparents, children, and various friends and relatives embracing in love. That is a fine picture except that it regards broken relationships and a false sense of love within infidelity. So it isn't love actually. Yet the film works due to detailed characters and circumstances. Director Richard Curtis barely holds the dozen or so subplots together but they flow with great detail. Ensemble cast includes Hugh Grant as the new Prime Minister of Britain who is overpowered with feelings towards his coffee steward. Liam Neeson plays a recent widow helping his son cope with love. Laura Linney plays a secretary trying to attract a co-worker but her cell phone is constantly ringing due to her brother being in an institution. Bill Nighy plays an ageing rock star who knows just how bad he is. Colin Firth plays a writer who falls for his Portuguese maid. Keira Knightley plays a newly wed who discovers that her husband's best man secretly had a crush on her. Great ensemble cast help keep the subplots interesting along with numerous superb locations that present different feeling. It doesn't always work due too delusional views of relationships that are the work of fiction if anything. Score: 8 / 10