Well written, but loses a few points (minor spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (9 November 2003)

*Pros:
-Performances
-Good overall message
-Stories are individually well written
-Some sweet romantic moments

*Cons:
-Some stories are neglected and feel unresolved.
-Fairly full of itself.
-Brief political subplot
******************************************
From Richard Curtis, the cinematic genius who brought you "Bridget Jones' Diary", "Notting Hill", and "Bridget Jones' Diary", comes a film so perfect, so well done, and indeed so long awaited, that you'd have to be a completely heartless, uncultured arsehole to not enjoy it.
Of course, I don't really think that, but the filmmaker seemed to, given the overall tone of the trailer for this self-proclaimed "Ultimate Romantic Comedy"... It was because of this very pretentious tone that I approached this film with a bit of hostility; but really just increased expectations. To me, if they're going to tout their brilliance as a marketing tool for this film, they'd better live up to the higher standard they claim as their own.
The good news is, they mostly do. I mean, how can you dislike a film that announces that its purpose is to point out that love is actually all around you?
Sadly, a few different ways.
A brief subplot involving Grant's character and the President of the US offered some very unspecific but generally anti-American political rhetoric. Don't get me wrong here I don't mind the stereotyping of Americans, since we dish that out at other countries all the time. Likewise, I can accept anti-American sentiment, as long as it's expressed in the form of a valid argument rather than vague generalization. In any case, I think the former, and not the latter, is the only of the two that has any place in a romantic comedy. It was in fact a scene of the stereotyping of Americans that was one of the most enjoyable scenes in the film, while the other scene seemed to be almost a deliberate sucker-punch for every American watching, followed by an immediate retreat by the person who dealt it. It was in poor taste, to say the least.
Beyond that The musical score, while very pleasing to the ear, was a bit intrusive at times The overall mood of certain scenes was apparently lacking, so the score tried to make up for it. Granted, it's a difficult line to place, but the score crossed it more than once.
Most of the stories worked very well. Unfortunately, as a consequence of such a multi-threaded narrative, some of them felt unresolved at the film's end. The pacing was good overall, although there were times in which a story would be in limbo for a bit too long, leaving the audience wondering if the characters decided to take an early holiday (to borrow a British expression).
But clearly, this is also a difficult line to measure, and for the most part, Curtis pulls it off. And in the end, in spite of its flaws, he leaves us with a delightful film to remember for this season.
6/10