Watch it for Bill Nighy, but don't expect a lot more

Rating: 5/10 (26 June 2007)

Five minutes into Love Actually, I thought it was going to be a marvellous, laugh-a-minute romantic comedy. Bill Nighy's eccentric washed-up rocker is brilliant and makes a great opening scene. But unfortunately none of the other performances are in the same league.
The film awkwardly straddles the divide between drama and comedy, and many of the scenes are painfully predictable. It's a rehash of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary, with a bit of Friends cut in. There are some funny scenes, but overall the movie didn't satisfy me. The comic characters are just too poorly developed. It's watchable, but lacking in originality. It could have been so much better.