Quite possibly the perfect movie for me

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2004)

I think it might just be my own personality, but this movie has everything I want in a movie. First of all, I knew almost every actor in it. Being American you would not think it, but I have BBC America and follow more British shows / movies than those made in the US. I watched this because of Alan Rickman and Liam Neeson, then recognized Keira Knightly for POTC, Thomas Sangster (from Miracle of the Cards, which had Brit Peter Wingfield) and the one who played Colin Frizzle, from My Family. It seemed like everywhere I looked, the actors were familiar.
That was step one. Then, I watched the movie and began to LIKE them all. I can't find one character I did not like. Although not fond of Hugh Grant, I came to LOVE the Prime Minister, and though I had not paid much attention to Emma Thompson or Colin Firth (I am more fond of the younger brother, Jonathan) before, after seeing this I started renting their movies. Yes, Sense and Sensibility was a quick acquisition! My biggest complaint, actually, is that I want to see all of the 3 hour version Curtis talks about when he shows us the deleted scenes. That and I liked the soundtrack and not all the songs in the movie are on it! The movie itself covers every sort of love there could be. Not just male/female love, but love of friends for each other, parents for children, children for other children (in other words, young love - nothing sexual), and, though it is only on those deleted scenes, even homosexual love. There are two cases of hopeless love, but mostly the movie is full of hope, and the acting is just so high quality.
I knew I was going to love the movie when I heard the opening speech, which was given by Grant's Prime Minister, David. In it he said he went to the airport to watch people arrive when he felt blue. Why? Because when people arrive, they show only love to the people meeting them there. You rarely find someone traveling miles to see someone and then start a screaming match as soon as the get there. Usually they hug each other. I had not thought of it that way, but think about it! And then, he says, as far as he knew, no one who called from the 911 airplanes called to give messages of hate. They all called loved ones to say goodbye. Love is everywhere, you just have to look for it.