*** Official LOVE ACTUALLY Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Vickie_M]

Thanks for the review!

My husband saw it last night in Kansas City (he's there on business, was bored and checked the paper to see what was playing) and called me after to rave about it. He's a self-admitted sap and so am I (we share favorite films such as One From The Heart and Moulin Rouge) and he told me he was sure I'd like it. It's a shame we didn't get to see it for the first time together but that's alright. I asked him if it was good enough for him to see again and he said definitely YES.

I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Love Actually" please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "Love Actually" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.


Crawdaddy

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

A film with Emma Thompson in it is a must-see for me as they do have a tendency of being good. Love Actually is no exception. My wife enjoyed it very much, as well.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Bill Nighy's part...

~Edwin

 

[Mark McLeod]

My review also mentions Bill Nighy.

You can read it here

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Some news you guys should like:


UNIVERSAL PICTURES' "LOVE ACTUALLY" DEBUTS WITH IMPRESSIVE $11,955 PER SCREEN AVERAGE

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, November 10, 2003 - Universal Pictures' all-star romantic comedy Love Actually, the directorial debut of celebrated screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill), opened with an impressive debut at the domestic box office this past weekend, taking in $11,955 per screen for an opening weekend total of $6,886,080 from only 576 playdates.

"We are thrilled that moviegoers are discovering our romantic comedy, especially in this crowded, pre-holiday marketplace. It's gratifying to know that adult audiences, looking for something different, found Love Actually. This funny and feel-good film obviously struck a chord with moviegoers, which bodes well as we head into next weekend when we roll out in additional theatres," said Nikki Rocco, president, distribution, Universal Pictures. "The great exit polls, and overwhelmingly positive response from our sneak audiences, tell us moviegoers are enjoying Love Actually and are enthusiastic about recommending it to their friends, more of whom will have a chance to see the picture this coming weekend."

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

A nice per screen average indeed. The screening I attended was quite full. Good word of mouth should bring good business for the film in the coming weeks.

~Edwin

 

[Guy Martin]

My bad Edwin!

Another good Bill quote:

DJ: Who was the best shag of your life?
Bill: Brittney Spears
(pause)
Bill: Just kidding.
(pause)
Bill: She was rubbish.



- Guy

 

[Patrick Sun]

Too bad they gave that bit away in the trailer.

 

[SarahG]

I thought this was pretty good. Not great, but very good.

 

[MartinTeller]

Even though the film admirably manages not to get too complicated or confusing with so many plotlines, it would have been nice to lose a few so that the better ones could get more screen time. In particular, I thought the Alan Rickman/Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley/Andrew Lincoln and Laura Linney stories needed more development. Seems to me like the Hugh Grant plot could have been lost, some funny parts, but the basic story has been done a million times before. The Kris Marshall storyline was a one-note joke... a funny note, but not needed. And the Martin Freeman/Joanna Page bits wouldn't have been missed either.

What happened to the "Fatso" card from the trailer? There must have been a subplot that got dropped about Knightley being self-conscious of her weight or something.

 

[Chad R]

If there was thank God it was dropped. It would either be ludicrous based on her actual weight, or an uncomfortable eating disorder story.

I agree that some plots needed more time to fully develop, but not at the sake of others. I would have gladly sat in the theater for another 20 minutes because this movie was so charming. I really love that it literally came out of nowhere. It was my wife's choice, I'd seen maybe one blurb on an entertainment show and went in with no preconceived notions whatsoever. Those are the best movie experiences.

 

[Kevin Grey]

It's interesting that all of these were essentially unhappy so I think that was the point with those specific stories. While all of the others had true "endings" those stories showed love doesn't always work out for both parties.

I also think it would be hard to find any one particular story to drop. Reading over various reactions it seems like everyone has differnt "favorites" and some of the least-favorite of some are the highlights for others.

 

[MartinTeller]

Well... yeah, for the Laura Linney one, okay. I guess that one's fine as is. But the other two I mentioned needed more fleshing out in the middle.

I didn't get Rickman buying that necklace for his secretary. He didn't seem to be that interested in her. I felt like there were some moments in between that we missed.

The Keira Knightley/Andrew Lincoln story just didn't get enough screen time. It was barely there and we hardly got any sense of where these people's heads were at or even what they thought they wanted.

It'd be interesting to go through it with a stopwatch and see how much time each story got on screen. I felt like the Hugh Grant one was hogging up a lot of it, but maybe not.

My personal favorite is the Colin Firth story. But I liked all of them except the Martin Freeman/Joanna Page story.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

I didn't get Rickman buying that necklace for his secretary. He didn't seem to be that interested in her. I felt like there were some moments in between that we missed.

But that is exactly the point of that story. Here we are shown two interoffice romances from the eyes of a third party. One that is supposed to be very obvious (Laura Linney's) and the other very discrete and almost non-existent (Alan Rickman's). I thought it was perfect the way it was handled because what it was saying is on the surface, things are not what they seem (in both cases).

~Edwin

 

[Kevin Grey]

Which is kind of proves my point considering my wife and her friend both felt that the Hugh Grant story didn't get enough screen time.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Some of the subplots felt like throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing which individual threads stick to the wall.

 

[Joe Hsu]

Love Actually turned out to be very bi-polar for me...I understood and accepted the method in which it tried to convey the thought that "love comes in many forms in all places", but I just thought that it was TOO split up. The director does a great job getting the emotion across, but it would've been much better (IMHO) had the storylines been trimmed a bit, and possibly explained the connections a little more...you see a few interactions here and there, but at the end of the movie, they all just happen to be at the same place and same time...meh.

So today it gets a 3.5 out of 5, tomorrow it might be a 3.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

I was a bit disappointed with the film...

I think that stems from the fact that there were actually a number of strong elements to it:

- I thought the opening and closing montages of regular people at the airport were excellent devices to convey the concept of love being all around
- Having 9 separate stories also fits that same theme very well (though I agree that some story lines weren't as enjoyable or as well constructed).
- The acting was uniformly excellent. In particular Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson and Laura Linney.

So it should have been much better. However I thought the script let it down. A few clunky phrases (ex. "All I want for Christmas is you") and a good deal of humour that didn't really work. Most of the laughs I got were through the actors' portrayals of the roles (Hugh Grant's door to door search for Natalie, etc.). I also never bought into some of the relationships. The Colin Firth storyline didn't do much for me at all.

My favourite story was probably Liam Neeson's with his son, but I found the ending dodging of security guards to be a bit silly. I mean, if you're going to recognize 9/11 at the beginning of the film, to have a character burst through airport security is pretty ridiculous. The very end of that scene was quite touching though...

It was still enjoyable for the performances and some of the scenes and stories, but I can't help feel that there was a much better movie in there somewhere...

 

[JasonWynia]

they all just happen to be at the same place and same time

That was the whole point. The voiceover at the beginning talked about not only how love is actually all around us, but how the prime example of that is the arrivals gate at the Heathrow airport. The rest of the movie is the story of a bunch of the people who arrived on the same day at that airport and how they ended up there. So, it's not the random sampling of some people with a few interactions. Rather, it's the story of those who were at the gate on January 25.