The worst British film in living memory.

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2005)

This film is as bad as cinema gets, I left the screen in utter disbelief at just how terrible it was.
This is a film made for people who don't go to the cinema. People who don't want to be surprised by a movie, people who want it to be EXACTLY as it lays it out in the trailer. It's the most contrived product of the British film industry that I can remember. Every character is derivative of the actors' previous roles and actually damages them as a result. Watch the trailer - there's very little more in the finished film.
Might the film be too mushy? Heck let's throw in some of the usual Dickie Curtis toffee English swearing stuff to give it a bit of credibility. The use of the intertwined stories is pathetic as they are barely tied together by anything solid. Taken alone each individual strand is worthless - recognise the geeky guy off My Family? In his story he can't get a girlfriend in England so goes to America where chicks love the accent, he pulls there - end of story (although the word story barely counts.) The British/American integration perhaps represents the most contrived aspect especially the oh so very convincing World Leaders.
Hey Hugh Grant does a funny dance!! Fantastic stuff!! Honest!! This is with a doubt the worst cinema going experience I've ever had. It took me six months before I could face going back.
I enjoyed Four Weddings and was fond of Notting Hill and there's no denying the acting talent trying to make something, anything of this awful unfunny mess but it just feels like you're watching a first draft script of a really pointless idea. The attempts at the cultural context of 9/11 are so toe curlingly embarrassing it hurts. Curtis is a bad director by any standard. This is TV on the big screen, a film made for people to stick on at Christmas in the "background" - it was made to be bland and meaningless.
The worst thing though is that Richard Curtis knows that this is a bad film. He chooses Bill Nighy's ageing rock star as his "vehicle" - the character is releasing a cover of "Love is All Around" which is a rehash of Curtis' Four Weddings soundtrack song (much as this film is a rehash) At one point Nighy's character admits that the song is awful - but who cares it Christmas? It is obvious that this directly represents Curtis' own view on the film... It's rubbish but hey it's Christmas.
Curtis is laughing all the way to the bank, laughing at everyone buying into his "rubbish" product.