This is a courageous effort from Richard Curtis, and he just about pulls it off...

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2014)

Anthology films, or movies with a lot of different situations and characters, are very difficult to get right, because it is difficult to cram so much information into a 2 hour movie. You've got to make sure that everyone is given enough time to be a completed, three-dimensional character with no rushing, but also ensure that the film doesn't drag. "Love Actually" is a film made up of many different segments and characters, all of whom are interconnected in some ways. Some characters work really well, some don't work at all, and some are middle ground. It's a courageous effort from writer and director Richard Curtis, and he just about pulls it off.
The film follows 10 different sets of people who are romantically involved, or hoping to be, all in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The ensemble cast is enormous, including so many Great British actors like Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman and Liam Neeson, and work together very well. It also contains Hugh Grant, who I have to confess is far more bearable in this film than anything I've ever seen him in before. Grant's Prime Minister is actually well managed, and his door-to-door search at the end is extremely enjoyable. Because the film does so much, I'll briefly talk about a few of the segments which I did really like.
The story between Colin Firth and his Portuguese maid is really great, giving Firth the opportunity to play his very amusing bumbling British gentleman again. Their chemistry is truly fantastic, and the final scene when he goes to propose to her in her home town is really funny, especially due to the language barrier. The relationship between Liam Neeson and his son, played by Thomas Sangster, is also extremely sweet and endearing.
On the flipside, one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking stories in the film is between Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman, who begins an affair with his secretary. Thompson's character starts to suspect things, especially when Rickman buys an expensive gift which doesn't turn out to be for her. The gift is bought from Rowan Atkinson, who steals the entire movie with a brief yet hilarious performance. And when Thompson finally realises the gravity of his affair, she goes to her room and just cries, while Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" is playing in the background. The emotion Thompson shows here is so raw and genuine, and it's a credit to the film and to Curtis that so many different emotions can be squeezed into 2 hours.
Not all of the film works, and Kris Marshall and Martin Freeman's respective segments are a bit crude and gratuitous, adding little to the overall humour of the film. Bill Nighy's ageing rock- star is also quite dislikable, and spends far too much time on screen. It's not a work of genius, but it is fun and incredibly sweet, and to be honest I rather enjoyed it. It's also very Christmassy, and the perfect thing to get you in the festive mood (when that eventually rolls around again).