Ok, I admit this is not the most recent of films but I had the pleasure of watching Love Actually again over the weekend and as I had forgotten how incredibly good it is, all of you are now going to be subjected to my indulgent rant on the matter! (That, and maybe because I’ve been having a little bit of writers block recently when it comes to writing posts for this blog. All suggestions will be gratefully accepted!)

Anyway, let’s start with the cast. Even with such a large ensemble cast, every actor in this film does a brilliant job. From the fabulous Bill Nighy as the ageing rocker Billy Mack to Hugh Grant as the youthful out of his depth Prime Minister, everyone’s portrayal of their role is spot on the money. Not to mention the likes of Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Martin Freeman, Rowan Atkinson, Kiera Knightley, Billy Bob Thorton, Alan Rickman, the utterly funny Kris Marshall as the insane Colin Frissell and countless others! Yes, as far as the cast goes, everyone’s a winner and Mary Selway and Fiona Weir should have won a fecking Oscar for the casting alone.

Moving on to the script, which is lovingly written and bursting at the seams with funny lines, this is one of the few romantic comedies that is actually brimful of both comedy and romance. And I don’t care what the most hardened cynic amongst you thinks; in my humble opinion Love Actually is one of the funniest and most endearing films ever made and I challenge any of you to sit down and watch it and to honestly express that you didn’t like it afterwards. Anyway, even if you do, I won’t believe you, so it’s a pointless exercise.

Finally, let’s talk about the primary reason why this film is so fecking wonderful... well that’s easy, it’s all about love. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, call in Doctor Wormius to administer an urgent check-up because it appears that I’ve gone completely off my rocker and gone totally soft! Don’t bother, it won’t make a whit of difference, I’m prepared to stand my ground on this one. Whatever you feel about the Brits’ chequered past in the history of our little republic, they sure can make a great romantic comedy.

In all fairness, can you imagine the schmaltzy crap this film would contain if Hollywood had been given the job of putting it together? No, unlike Hollywood, the Brits’ view of love is not as simple as the sterilised conservative middle of the road bullshit that the Americans like to peddle us! Instead, Love Actually triumphs because it shows us that love has many forms, some are straightforward, some are complicated, some will leave you in tears and some will have you leaping around like a carefree child but as Austin Powers might say, “who cares, it’s love baby!” Tall love, short love, fat love, skinny love, soft love, hard love, easy love, difficult love, it doesn’t matter because it’s love and it’s all good! (Ok, itchy love does sound a bit dodgy but let’s not go there for the moment!) Anyway, I think I’ll leave the final words to The Beatles by quoting a line from one of their songs that is in the film itself – “love is all you need.”

Labels: Cinema, Humour

# Forged from the fiery depths by Pure Cork Boy.