Middle Class Fairytales (Love Actually (DVD))

Member Name: Hunting_Bears

Product:	Love Actually (DVD)
Date:	04/12/03 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: funny lines, Hugh Grant

Disadvantages: cheesy

'Love Actually' is Richard Curtis' debut feature as director, the man who wrote scripts for '4 Weddings and a Funeral' and the tedious 'Notting Hill' along with television classics such as 'Blackadder goes Forth'. I must say I enjoyed this sweet natured hymn to love and despite some truly awful and cheesy moments that outdo anything I have seen before, I thought Curtis' film is just the right thing needed in a world so full of horridness. I'm not being naïve or sentimental, but it is close to Christmas and I think this film is a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.


The film tells eight stories of love in its various stages and guises, from secret obsessions to finding 'the one' (no not Neo). Some of the plot strands are bloody awful but there are three stories that I thought were wonderful: Colin Firth falling for his working class cleaning lady, Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister falling for his working class secretary (is there a pattern here?) and Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson's pitch perfect performances as a husband and wife in crisis.

There are many great lines in this film also whether its Martine McCutcheon using foul language in a truly endearing way: The scene towards the end when as she descends a set of stairs talking to herself saying 'Fucking hell, I can't find my fucking coat!' anybody would fall in love with her. But the stand out moment goes to Hugh Grant's defiant speech on Britain standing up to America, the speech is truly inspiring: 'This is the land of Shakespeare, Churchill, Sean Connery and Harry Potter', I actually felt proud to be British (possibly for the first time ever), it is a wonderfully nation inspiring moment.

Indeed Curtis' is a brilliant comedic writer who wears his heart on his sleeve and though the film does lapse into some contrived and disturbingly sentimental, this is one loved up guy (who wouldn <
br>9;t be the guy's clever, a millionaire and a truly talented writer).

But then again this film has been made for the American market despite the anti-American speech. London is photographed in that fairytale way, the streets are clean, it’s a middle class utopia. American's will lap up the images of Big Ben, the Millennium wheel, Trafalgar Square and such. But the film is also rather deceiving because we Brits and especially Londoners know that the place depicted in the film doesn't really exist, its there but it isn't there if you catch my drift. Richard Curtis writes about upper middle class people and packages them so that everybody loves them.


The performances in the film range from good to bad my personal favourites are Alan Rickman as the tempted husband and Emma Thompson as the hurt wife. Hugh Grant is Hugh Grant (we wouldn't want a bumbling Englishman any other way) Martine McCutcheon impressed me with her sweet nature and potty mouth! The worst performances come from Kiera Knightley (her accent irritates the hell out of me), Kris Marshall as the man on the mission to get laid in America and Liam Neeson's son who declares himself to be in love.


Another rather odd thing about 'Love Actually' is that it features black people as being in the upper echelons of society and it does not ring true, I would be offended by Curtis' insistence that racism does not exist and I found this side to the film appalling. Curtis wants everybody to get along and love each other? So why no gay characters in the film? The film is about heterosexual love (the real love?) and all its joys and occasional miseries. Apparently, love is all we need, actually.


In summary; Love Actually occasionally hits the mark perfectly and I loved the many great lines and some geniunely touching performances, on the other hand its mawkish nature and silly ideals tend to outweight the g
reat things. Love is all we need, love is all we need. And can anybody explain the bizarre porn actors storyline to me? That was weird.

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