Unrealistic, but wonderful

Rating: Null/10 (23 November 2003)

I saw this movie with some professional reviewers' opinions uppermost in my mind. The prevailing view, I thought, was that this was a patchwork of sentimental nonsense sewn together by swearing, a Christmas theme, and some good acting. The reviews were wrong (again!), and it's my assumption that those same boring, cynical, elitist reviewers would've showered 'Love Actually' with praise had it been French and shot in black-and-white. I totally fell for this movie - a charming, beautifully-made festive confection.
You'll already know, I'm sure, of the set-up. Several inter-linked love stories of different types, played out in the weeks before Christmas, centred on Hugh Grant's bachelor Prime Minister falling for his tea-girl (Martine McCutcheon). From Downing Street, the love flows in all sorts of directions, although never really beyond middle-class town-houses owned by people with vague, well-paid jobs, (but what would you expect?) To be fair, there were a couple of stories whose cutting wouldn't have damaged the movie - the English loser in Wisconsin, for instance - but I guess Curtis had a load of points to make about love, and he wasn't compromising on any of them.
Grant's Prime Minister is well-acted but pretty unrealistic, of course. Having said that, how many US Presidents have we sat through in movies who are the epitome of square-jawed greatness, and bear no resemblance whatsoever to the real occupants of the White House? More power to a kick-ass British leader. McCutcheon gives a lovely performance as the beguiling beverage-server, and Emma Thompson is brilliant as usual. Her strand, as the PM's sister whose husband (Alan Rickman) is being tempted by a predatory colleague, is heart-rending and sincere. The same is true of Colin Firth's character, whose wife cheats on him with his brother, and who ends up engaged to a beautiful Portugese cleaner. Each tale has a share of laughs, and the body-double pair who talk traffic and motorways while rehearsing their sex-scenes, are hilarious. Equally, Rowan Atkinson's tiny cameo, which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere, is a triumph of performance comedy.
I feel like I could be one of the characters in this movie. I'm a Londoner in my own personal Curtis-esque scenario - adoring the girl of my dreams even though she's with another man. Perhaps because of this, the story about the guy videoing his best friend's wedding won me over even more than the rest, not least because of it's wonderful resolution.
Maybe you have to be in love in London to appreciate Curtis' latest work as much as I did. That's certainly the impression I got from my unmarried, uncommitted friends. But they enjoyed the jokes and laughed loads, and from a comedy, that's a pretty good return. Christmas, love, and London have rarely looked so tempting from the late-November drizzle.