The Final Scene of "Love Actually"

Rating: 7/10 (16 April 2005)

The trick to making the ideal date movie is appealing to both the female and the male viewer. My wife and I watched this movie the other night and we both enjoyed it; and that is saying something. But we both enjoyed it for different reasons and both took something entirely different away from the movie.
My wife enjoyed the CONSTANT attention to love and all things love related; romance, fairy tale endings and whatnot. Honestly, the emotional side of me enjoyed this aspect of the movie as well. But it was the final scene of the movie that left me reeling (and this is in no way a spoiler).
I'm watching the conclusion in Heathrow, with people coming together from all over the world. But it's the music that takes over my consciousness. The Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" and the purposely repetitious and sadly remorseful chorus "I want to go home, I want to go home..." And the irony hit me: an American surfer band communicating more emotion in 15 seconds than the entire gray, cold British movie could convey in 2 hours up to this point.
Maybe the point was that underneath the cold, gray British posturing there was a heart. Or maybe the producer just liked the song. Whichever the case, it worked for me.