Should Have Had Me In Tears, But It Didn't

Rating: 7/10 (7 December 2008)

I watched this movie alone, it was cold outside, almost Christmas, I have no money for presents, spent money on a card that I shouldn't have.
Definitely an emotional state, and I watch Love Actually.
Some parts were sentimental, but this thing should have had me gushing, yet it didn't. Some bits were just too obvious.
Basically it was the stories' structure. Some stories were good, but others fell apart and it seems they shouldn't have. And overlapping moments were forced.
The two standout overlaps were the PM knocking on the door and Alan Rickman's secretary opens and tells the PM that Natalie lives next door.
The other one was Atkinson at the airport. Now what both of these moments say is England is very small.
The PM is looking at his brother-in-law's secretary. Surely she knew that her boss's brother-in-law was the PM. It was just too close.
And Atkinson again at the airport. He is holding up Neeson, who had Thompson at his wife's funeral and her husband attempted to purchase the necklace from Atkinson.
There were other characters who could have been in either one of these positions.
Karl would have sufficed in either position and would have successfully looped that storyline within the movie.
The problem with the movie was the three cornerstones, Grant, Thompson and Neeson (Rickman a very close fourth) shouldn't have been in contact with one another.
Grant and Thompson should have never been siblings and Thompson didn't need to be an associate of Neeson's.
Neeson could have held up his entire storyline just fine all on his own (when he motions for Sam to look behind him and see Joanna at the airport).
Linney was a major loose thread. If nothing else, she could have been seen at the airport, returning to America, since she wasn't going to be with anyone (yea, and run out on that brother, sure. She'll send for him later) Perhaps it was the movie's working that made the weak ends so difficult.
Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and Neeson all had strong stories.
Two movies that sprang to my mind that did this were Pearl, about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and Carwash.
Carwash did it very well, but then that was a very confined neighborhood.
Pearl was good, but a handful of characters were military and they simply were brought together as military figures and met that way.
Lesley Anne Warren was the furthest out of the loop, involvement pretty much only with Robert Wagner, but then she has encounters with the Japanese woman (only major Asian figure in the movie).
Any of the incredibly minor figures (Tony, the porn actors-stand ins, whatever they were) could have had the Atkinson position at the airport or something. It would have threaded the movie together much better.
Perhaps I will watch it a year or so from now and get better sentiment from it.
Probably.
And what a shame Miss Dunkin Donut 2003 couldn't have been paired up with Billy Mack's manager or something.
And why was Mack's unseen ex-girlfriend named Daisy, the same as Thompson's daughter?