A Dickensian Love Fairy Tale

Rating: 7/10 (27 December 2007)

Love Actually is one of the most mawkish, treacly, sugary romantic comedies out there - as has been noted, there are a tonne of different plots, so you have basically eight times the amount of upbeat treacle you would normally get. The movie tosses an incredible ensemble cast in your face, flaunting well-known celebrities in almost unremarkable cameos. Yet, incredibly, the movie works - it makes you feel good about yourself and about love.
The critics can say what they will, but Love Actually actually defies all these things working against it, and for inexplicable reasons, tells eight uplifting love stories. It would be difficult for someone not to be touched by at least one of them, seeing as how the movie takes pains to cover almost every type of love imaginable, from romantic to platonic.
The important thing to bear in mind is that you can't take the movie too seriously. Most romantic comedies flirt with the barrier between reality and fantasy, but by the end of Love Actually, it's pretty unquestionable that this is a modern day fairy tale - it's not just implausible, it's impossible.
Love Actually reminds me of something Dickens would write, because it adheres to Dickens' style. The denouement of the movie ties together all the subplots, bringing the characters together at the airport - a definite Dickensian move.
Dickens dealt with mawkish fairy tales, and he has found popular acclaim, both among the masses and among the critics. If the critics would let their guard down and accept Love Actually as a fairy tale, I think they'd find it's a very Dickensian story at heart.
If you loved reading Charles Dickens's improbable stories, and didn't mind the exciting but improbable happy endings he almost inevitably produced, you will like Love Actually.