Alright,actually

Rating: Null/10 (31 January 2004)

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs
Christmas 2003,for me,anyway,has got to rank among the most excruciating experiences in my meagre 20 years on this planet.It was that time of the year again and boy did the message seem to be plugged to me,in a year when I just really wasn't in the mood.It seemed no matter where I went or what I did,there was no escape from the festive pluggings in all their forms and glory,more so than any other year I can remember.Not only that,but everyone seemed to keep going on about the countdown to add insult to injury.Love Actually appears to have interpreted my (and possibly other peoples) frustration and,as the story progresses,has included banners indicating the countdown to December 25th starting from the five week mark point and progressing downwards from there.
The film has a Pulp Fiction esque feel to it by focusing on not just one main storyline but an interwining series of them,all seemingly revolving around how love is the ultimate binding force of the universe and how at Christmas,the time of peace and goodwill to all men,this sentiment should especially shine through.We open with Hugh Grant's Prime Minister,the main character,telling us how "people can find the most love at airports" as this is a main greeting area where people come to meet and say goodbye to people they love.Hmmm,very intuitive.Said PM has a thing for his new tea lady (Martine McCutcheon) and spends the film working towards the outcome of this fancy.Photographer Liam Neeson has recently lost his wife and has to help his young son get the girl he fancies at school.Colin Firth plays a man trying to get the Spanish girl he's dating to marry him.Laura Linney plays.....a character whose purpose I was unsure of throughout the film.Emma Thompson plays the PM's secretary and personal assistant.Alan Rickman is her grumpy husband.Keira Knightley is the love interest of a man who's best friend she's married to.Bill Nighy plays an ageing rock star,so warbled in his mind on account of years of heroin abuse who's trying to hit the Christmas No.1 spot with one of the worst,most laughable songs ever.And there's a bizarre cameo appearance from Rowan Atkinson as a jewellery store assistant who inconvieniently faffs about too much,causing various inconvienience to different people.
Grant's character is almost certainly a parody of Tony Blair right down to a tee,with his overbearing niceness and constant cheesy grinning and this especially comes to light in a scene featuring Billy Bob Thornton in a cameo as the American president.They're taking the p**s as,during a press conference,he tells the president exactly what he thinks of his policy and where to shove it.This was almost certainly making a statement of how everyone didn't think that this was the true of the real PM Blair,and how they seemed to perceive him as doing a lot of gutless pandering to the real American president George Bush during the year of the war with Iraq.In the leading role,he carries the film in the way he's carried films of a similar ilk that he's been the leading star of in the past,but is ultimately unremarkable.McCutcheon's certainly worked hard to get roles in films like this,but she still has a little way to go to prove she has what it takes to send her career to even greater levels,unlike co-star Knightley who is both exceptionally pretty and carries a natural charm throughout.Many of the other head-billed cast members do well in their roles too,especially Neeson,Nighy as a milder version of Ozzy Osbourne and,Atkinson,bringing his usual quirky comic charm to what is essentially only a walk-on part.
The film itself is not particularly funny or charming in any way,but it does carry an engaging enough concept.And the soundtrack ain't bad either.***