'Love Actually' is actually lovable

Friday, November 07, 2003

By Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If you needed confirmation that the romantic comedy "Love Actually" will tickle -- no, enthrall -- women, consider this. Britain's prime minister falls for a member of his household staff whose ex-boyfriend said she was getting fat.

	'LOVE ACTUALLY' RATING: R for sexuality, nudity, language STARRING: Alan Rickman, Billy Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant DIRECTOR: Richard Curtis

"He says no one's going to fancy a girl with thighs the size of big tree trunks. Not a nice guy, actually, in the end." To which the PM replies: "Right. Goodness. Well, well. You know, being prime minister, I could just have him killed."

Hugh Grant plays the bachelor prime minister, and he fancies a woman with Bridget Jones-size thighs. Merry Christmas, indeed.

Movie reviewers who gush always sound like they're waging a shameless campaign to get themselves quoted in the ads, but I loved "Love Actually" and will happily recommend it to anyone who asks. It's a chick flick, to be sure, but men at a recent preview seemed to be having a pretty good time, too.

Director-writer Richard Curtis, who wrote "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and adapted "Bridget Jones's Diary," has assembled a diverse, delightful cast in a story that explores love from all angles.

Among them: the world leader and the woman (Martine McCutcheon) who fetches tea; a long-married couple (Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson) who have two children and one distraction under the mistletoe; a widower (Liam Neeson) who advises his 11-year-old stepson in matters of the heart; a cuckolded writer (Colin Firth) and the housekeeper who literally doesn't speak his language; an American office worker (Laura Linney) with a crush and a cell phone that never stops ringing; newlyweds (the ubiquitous Keira Knightley and Chiwetel Ejiofor) whose best man seems oddly frosty; a foul-mouthed, aging rocker (Bill Nighy) who flogs his Christmas single; and assorted others.

As if a pointillist, Curtis keeps applying tiny dots of color to his canvas until he completes the whole. By the movie's end, you realize who's related or friends, and it simply adds another layer of richness to the proceedings. Throw in cute children dancing to unlikely carolers at the door, a London decorated for the holidays and a top-notch soundtrack that makes excellent use of songs ranging from Joni Mitchell's "River" and The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" to "All Alone on Christmas" and you've got a winner.

Although "Love Actually" is packed with sexy actors such as Grant, Firth and Neeson, a tender exchange between the 11-year-old (Thomas Sangster) and a classmate is one of the most touching. And so is a scene where a heartsick woman retreats to her bedroom to cry and try to collect herself on Christmas Eve; it may be the most skillfully acted moment of the movie.

"Love Actually" has surprises, dialogue with bite -- much of it supplied by Nighy's rocker, who admits his song is "crap" but suggests it would be great if the No. 1 record belonged not to a smug teen but "an old ex-heroin addict searching for a comeback at any price" -- many laughs and the right measure of tenderness and optimism.

Christmas romantic comedies can be like holiday cookies with too many sweets folded into the batter. "Love Actually," admittedly stuffed with perhaps two or four too many characters, is not the deepest, most prestigious or thoughtful movie out there, but it sure is enjoyable and uplifting. And some days, that's like a mysterious package under the tree, just waiting for you to remove the oversize bow and rip off the wrapping.

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