Love Actually - Actually Good

my rating: Nathan's rating:

December's traditionally a smorgasbord of good new movies, but Nathan had his heart set on the extended re-release of The Two Towers. There wasn't anything out this week that I had to see, and I certainly didn't mind seeing the film again, so we went to see that instead of anything new. But I was feeling a bit bored and frustrated with my life, so I went to see Love Actually, which Nathan had already seen by himself and raved about just how wonderful it would make me feel.

Well, I'm a bit more jaded about holiday-themed romantic comedies, I suppose, because it didn't leave me nearly that happy. But truth be told, I've developed an almost diabetic intolerance for sugary sweet romances, so the fact that I sat through it smiling rather than slipping into a coma (or wishing I would) says a lot for it. In fact, it even got me thinking that maybe a little romance (or at least flirting) might be nice to have again in my life.

It's very much an ensemble piece with a whole bunch of talented actors sharing screen time, each of them part of what seems like a dozen different storylines, all of which deal with loving relationships of one kind or another, ranging from just plain horniness, to lust, to childish infatuation, to lifelong friendship, to tenuous marriage, and so on. Some of these are played strictly for laughs, others with treacly (ironic?) absurdity, some bittersweet, and others that you're not sure what to make of them, because you can't see how they can be resolved with a happy ending... and they aren't. I guess the darkness of some storylines and the sillyness of others served as insulin to break down the sugar of the others.

In keeping with the genre (which one of the characters - a wise-but-innocent 10-year-old - comments on) by the climax of the film (on Christmas Eve, of course) people begin finding True Love and several of the storylines begin intersect, either through storyline-crossing relationships or the rather forced coincidence of people being in the same place at the same time. An epilogue set a month later ties up most of the remaining loose ends.

The adverts for the movie spoil some of the funny bits, and I wish they'd saved a few more for the people who actually paid to see the film.

I'm tempted to call the movie "inoffensive", because it didn't offend me, but I suppose the storyline about the couple who meet on the set of a high-budget porn movie might offend some people. And there's a bit of creepiness in the fact that several of the romances involve employers and their employees. But I see that as a redeeming trait: not "realism" per se, but a recognition that the workplace is where many of us do most of our socialising. It's kind of like a syrupy, fruity cocktail with just enough liquor in it to have a bite to it.