Not Love, Actually

Rating: 3/10 (22 June 2014)

I watched this movie for the first time recently and yes, I know the world has changed in 11 years but wow - did this really pass as something terrific then? Of course the acting giants in this film could read you the phone book and it would sound great. After reading what stories should have been cut, I agree that the guy going to the US to get laid and the stand-in porn actors' stories were not worth the paper they were written on; however, taking them out would not have saved this picture. A serious problem is the pervasive sense of the "love (or lust) at first sight = forever" mentality. The only female part with any depth to it at all is Emma's. Laura Linney's character quite quickly reveals herself as a terminal co who is only going to have a life once her brother dies. It's hard to not just pity her. Unfortunately all we get from Emma's character at the end is a kind of wan smile accompanying her "I'm fine, I'm fine!" to her husband's somewhat thoughtful "how are you?". The one relationship that showed some hint of possible potential is only allowed to reach the depth of a birdbath apparently. Too bad the film maker didn't take a cue from the real footage in the airport that ends the film - there suddenly we are smacked up the side of the head with every type of real relationship EXCEPT this shallow Hollywood romance stuff, and you realize, "ahhhh, THAT's love actually!"