Actually a fine piece of movie-making....!

Rating: 8/10 (4 June 2005)

(This comment has been written by a Swedish guy suffering from a serious hangover. So I hope you will excuse the poor English...) Firstly, for me as a common guy the genre "romantic comedies" doesn't rank high. Fairer to say, I try avoid them as much as is humanly possible. However, when my girlfriend brought home Love Actually and threatened with a sex-free relationship the coming weeks if I didn't watch the film with her left me without much of a choice.
So I sat down with her and muttered something about "pathetic chick-flicks", but almost as soon as the film started I found myself mesmerized by it. And believe me, no one was more surprised by this than me! It was really that kind of film you don't want to end and which you find yourself to think about long after you have picked out the DVD from the DVD-player (the opposite to mindless, branded Hollywood action-movies). The film is really funny, highly romantic (in the best sense of the world), has a great soundtrack and very well-acted by the many famous British actors.
The film portrays the many various aspects of love and how it affect people's life and destinies. The story follows a bunch of people living in London the weeks before Christmas whose life's are intertwined in different ways, with the common nominator being love, and a Christmas play at the end of the film...
The film has many peaks but I would like to especially mention the scene where Keira Knightly's character discovers her husbands best friends feelings towards her. The expression on her face together with the guys inability to stay in the same room as her as he leaves his apartment to the tones of Dido is really heart-breaking. At this point of the film I was having serious problems not the let my girlfriend see how much the film was affecting me... And even though Keira Knightley has a face to die for (I can't imagine a guy who wouldn't describe her as extremely gorgeous in this film) the strength of this scene is that the feeling of unrequited love is something most people can relate to.
Finally, this is a film I can highly recommend, both to guys and girls. However, if your notion of great film-making is the latest Van Diesel-movie you might get disappointed. But on the other hand, then you either have passed the point of no return when it comes to good taste in movies or you're 15 years old....