Really beautiful actually

Rating: 9/10 (29 November 2003)

I normally hate this kind of movie. Life is tough, and love is very complicated, and any good romance movie (i.e. "When Harry Met Sally..") knows this. "Love Actually," on the other hand, going with the spirit of the Christmas season (during which the film takes place), places sentimentality over realism and over-simplifies romance to what could have been the point of nausea. But somehow, the movie works. It somehow made me turn my cynicism off and buy into its many implausible moments, and ultimately really touched me. "Love Actually" is, in fact, one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. Not since "American Beauty" have I been so affected by a film. And the funny thing is, this movie could have been terrible, because of the reasons I mentioned before. But somehow, through a combination of great writing (which also includes many laughs), solid directing, excellent acting, and well, who knows, it works. Beautiful stuff--filmmaking at its most affective.