Filled with Whimiscal Characters and Heartwarming Stories,

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2016)

Love Actually is a great movie with several well developed story lines that all come together nicely and a terrific cast that can be both comedic and dramatic. It certainly wasn't an easy film to make and I'm sure the studio must have considered it a huge risk, telling stories from several characters in the space of two hours, with all of them having little to no connection with the others, but it worked, Richard Curtis clearly put hard work in to this script and gathered a very impressive cast to make it a hit. Of course, with the amount of stories there are, some of them felt underdeveloped, I found Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson's to be one of the most compelling, but in the great their story dosen't get any proper closure, Colin Firth's story felt very tight, I would like to have seen more of him with Sienna Guillory, but with a film as crowded as this you are going to feel underwhelmed with certain parts. The films cast really is terrific and is the main reason why a story as complicated and messy as this really works, Liam Neeson shines as a step dad hoping to cheer up the son of his deceased wife, Emma Thompson is delightful as a wife questioning her own decisions, Alan Rickman astounds as a confused husband, Hugh Grant is terrific as a prime minister who discovers love for the first time, every actor puts all their heart in to these roles and they are all a delight to watch. However, the best performance for me would have to be Bill Nighy, who shines in every scene as Billy Mack, playing a character in no way similar to any role he has done previously, he plays a straight up pompous musician, and he does it ridiculously well. Always a fun film to watch at Christmas time, Love Actually is funny, emotional and very sweet, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good comedy or romance film.
Set one month before Christmas, we follow the lives of several people falling in or out of love.
Best Performance: Bill Nighy