A Love Story... with a heart

Rating: 10/10 (9 November 2003)

I like watching romance comedies, but haven't been able to find one in the recent years that make me laugh and make me want to cry. Well, I hit the nail on the head when I bought a ticket to see Love Actually. Love Actually is such a unique movie, with a unique script, cast, and even the way it is filmed. Richard Curtis did an excellent job in both writing this movie and directing it. Hugh Grant is the man I hate to love. In this movie he was on target as the lovable and down to earth prime minister. This is one of Hugh's strongest roles in the past few years. I think the thing that made this such a strong role was that he had such amazing chemistry with Natalie (Martine McCutcheon). That was the love story in this movie that I most looked forward to seeing. I wasn't that interested in the love story between the two porn star stand ins or the young man who travels to America to find girls. But there were some really strong performances and plots in this movie I just fell in love with. For one --- I loved Daniel (Liam Neeson) with his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster). Also the relationship between Sam and Joanna (Oliva Olson) was cute. Oliva Olson also had such a great singing voice for such a young girl too. Secondly --- the cameos in this movie are great without being shoved down your throat... like Denise Richards and Shannon Elizabeth's cameos.
Third --- great acting from Grant, McCutcheon, Neeson, Sangster, Olson, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, and a few others. Keira Knightley fans may be disappointed because she doesn't get much screen time for this movie. Overall, this film was just a great romantic comedy. Yes, it's long, but it is worth checking out. A chick flick, uh huh. But even my guy friend told me "this was one of my all time favorite movies" and he wasn't being sarcastic. He really really liked it.