Sprawling and riveting

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2003)

Although I think Christmas is a bunch of hogwash, and that this movie will make lonely people want to kill themselves, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It was a sprawling epic about the state of being "in love" covering the whole of London, with an extension to Marseilles. The greatest living actors in all of England got together (with a couple of Americans) to create a Christmas card. A few of the many stories made me teary-eyed, and the story of the has-been rock star was hilarious. The way the stories link up in various ways makes the movie into a giant jigsaw puzzle. It's one of the great Christmas movies, up there with "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Christmas Carol" and "Christmas Story." The near-capacity audience in the giant theater where I saw it burst into applause a few times.