Quite enjoyable, actually

Rating: Null/10 (1 April 2005)

*Spoiler Alert - Spoiler Info Contained in Review* ***Lots of spoilers, actually***
No, it's not a PERFECT movie, but there are a lot of things to enjoy about this one. There are enough plot synopses on this site already, so I'll just mention what I consider to be the very best bits, both funny and touching:
 Funny: Bill Nighy shamelessly and hammily whipping off his clothes during a live TV performance of his cheesy hit song, "Christmas is All Around Us". Touching: He ditches an Elton John holiday party to admit to his long-suffering manager that he is actually the (platonic) love of his life.
 Funny: Colin Firth is trailed through the streets by an ever-growing throng of gossipy townspeople on his way to propose to his Portugese beloved, Aurelia. The gossip begins with "he wants to marry her" then becomes "he is going to enslave her" then "he is going to murder her."
 Touching: The look on Juliet (Keira Knightley's) face when she realizes that her new husband's best man is in love with her, and he can't let anyone see the wedding video he shot for them because all the frames are full of her.
 Funny and touching: Rowan Atkinson's two well-timed appearances.
 Funny: When Hugh Grant gamely but tentatively starts to sing a Christmas carol for two little girls, and his bodyguard chimes in with an exquisitely operatic voice.
 Funny: The Christmas pageant with children dressed as lobsters, other assorted sea creatures, and Spiderman. Oh, and singing "Catch a Falling Star," which isn't even a Christmas song.
 After several wistful comments about the lovely Claudia Schiffer, Liam Neeson's suffering widower meets a young woman named Carol--played by a refreshingly makeup-free Claudia Schiffer.