Did I miss something?

Rating: 7/10 (23 May 2005)

I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into watching this film, I just rented it to see what it was all about. I did expect a total love story with a bunch of different characters, which is what the movie pretty much is. I expected more of a connection between all the different stories that for me didn't quite play out the way I expected. I'll admit I'm not a huge fan of British comedies, a lot of the humor just doesn't make sense to me, which might have been my major problem with this film.
There were certain elements that really bothered me about this movie though. At the beginning, we see the characters being introduced. One scene has Colin Firth saying goodbye to his girlfriend, saying I love you about 27 times while doing so, while on his way to his French cottage to work on his novel for several weeks. For some reason he falls in love with his Portuguese housekeeper who he never says a word to because, alas they don't speak the same language! We never again here from the girlfriend the rest of the movie as he runs off at the end to marry the housekeeper, because he has finally learned to speak Portuguese. That didn't make much sense to me, but I guess running away from someone you say that you love is funny to some people, not to me. I guess the point of that story was that true love exceeds culture and language.
Another story that bothered me was the one involving the best friend of a newlywed groom who is secretly in Love with the bride. The bride, Keira Knightley, finds this out when she comes over to view the wedding video, shot by the best friend in a stalker-like fashion where every single frame is a close-up of the bride. She apparently find this to be cute, and doesn't run off in a terrified state of "oh my god this guy is obsessed with me"!! They don't run off together but still remain friends, for some reason.
I think I need to watch this film again with someone who understands it because I felt like a lot of the humor was over my head. I guess since I'm not in love, and rather cynical about it, I didn't quite get a lot of this movie.