Love Actually is one of those movies that wasn’t meant to be a Christmas movie. Sure, it was released around Christmas in 2003. It takes place during the Christmas season. But it was never designed to become a Christmas classic. Yet it has achieved just that. The heartwarming romantic comedy is the type of movie people watch again and again, year after year around Christmastime. In fact, it could easily be considered one of the best Christmas movies ever made. And here’s why.
Beautifully Interwoven Stories
- Release Date
- September 7, 2003
- Runtime
- 135
Love Actually tells 10 different stories, which all intertwine in some way, all about love. But they aren’t all about romantic love nor do they all have a happy ending. There’s one about new love brewing. One is about a young boy experiencing his first feelings of love. One is about a married couple dealing with the challenges of long-time love and temptation. One is about a flailing rock star who experiences what true, platonic love really means. Then, there are stories of forbidden love, the challenges of finding love, love in the wake of tragedy, and familial obligation that makes love impossible to pursue.
It’s not difficult to follow and there are characters fans relate to, ones they root for, and others they are angered by. The stories are all unique from one another. Yet the way some of the characters link to one another give it a cohesive feel. It might be people who are related to one another, friends, who have worked together in some capacity, or maybe just cross paths in seemingly insignificant ways.
The ensemble cast includes big-name actors like Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Rowan Atkinson, Laura Linney, Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Nighy, Hugh Grant, and Emma Thompson. There are also relatively unknown ones at the time who have since gone on to achieve great success, like Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, January Jones, and a young Thomas Brodie-Sangster. There’s even a cameo from supermodel Claudia Schiffer.
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Iconic and Memorable Scenes
There are so many memorable scenes from the movie, such as Grant, who plays the British prime minister, dancing in the hallways, thinking no one is watching. There’s the memorable performance by Joanna (Olivia Olson) singing the massive Christmas hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey at a school concert. There’s Lincoln holding up that sign saying, “To Me, You Are Perfect.”
And there’s Thompson’s heart-wrenching, tearful scene to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” that makes viewers cry every time, no matter how times it’s watched. This is juxtaposed by lovely moments like the sweet surprise big band performance of “All You Need Is Love” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney at Juliette (Knightley) and Peter’s (Ejiofor) wedding.
From the acting to the interweaving stories that take viewers on a wild ride of emotions to the secrets behind the movie, there’s so much depth to Love Actually. The underlying theme about love in its many forms is so different from the typical rom-com. It’s not just about two people falling in love, nor is it just about two people. It’s about people not being able to get their happy endings. It’s about people learning about themselves, throwing caution to the wind, and not always getting the outcome they want. It’s also about non-romantic love.
Interesting Facts About Love Actually That Make It Even Better
The Opening and Closing Scenes Feature Real People
There are so many intriguing facts about the making of Love Actually that have fans further drawn to the movie. The opening and closing sequences, for example, feature people in an airport greeting one another during the Christmas season. People are arriving at the gates to families who meet them with tearful, joyous embraces. These scenes are all real, filmed with actual people at Heathrow Airport.
Premiering two years after 9/11, the messaging also relates to this tragic event through voiceover narration at the beginning. It talks about how when things get gloomy in life, it’s nice to think of scenes like this as loved ones are being reunited and experiencing feelings of utter joy. It’s meant to promote love over hate, hope over despair.
4 Storylines Had to Be Cut, Which Could Be Used for a Sequel
The movie was also supposed to follow 14 different stories of love, but four of them had to be cut for the sake of time. This leaves fans wanting more and plenty of opportunity for a sequel or new movie inspired by the original. This is especially so since one of the cut stories reportedly followed a gay love story, which writer and director Richard Curtis later said he regretted cutting.
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Art Imitated Life (and Vice Versa)
Grant’s portrayal of a fictional prime minister has been referenced in real life on many pertinent occasions, proving the movie’s tremendous reach and influence. When Tony Blair resigned, some called the possible anti-American shift with Gordon Brown and his cabinet a “Love Actually moment,” since there is a scene in the movie when Grant stands up to the U.S. president, played by Thornton. In 2013, a speech by David Cameron was compared to one that Grant’s character made during the movie as well.
When Rickman’s character Harry is trying desperately to buy a gold necklace for his secretary Mia (Heike Makatsch), likely also his mistress, Rufus irritatingly takes forever to wrap it, risking his wife Karen (Thompson) returning to the booth catching him in the act. It has been widely reported that Atkinson purposely antagonized Rickman during this scene, ad-libbing and extending many of his actions such that Rickman’s frustrated and angered reaction was actually real.
As a sad tidbit of art preceding and imitating life, Neeson’s character Daniel is grieving the death of his wife and raising her son from a previous marriage. Years after Love Actually was released, Neeson’s wife Natasha Richardson died suddenly following a severe head injury while skiing in Canada.
The Most Divisive Scene Still Causes Debate
There’s also a lot of debate over Lincoln’s scene with the card professing his love to Knightley’s Juliet, who happened to be the new wife of his best friend Peter. While she feared Mark didn’t like her, she later realizes when she sees the wedding video he recorded for them that he is actually infatuated with her. Mark knows he can’t have her, however, so his attitude towards her was all for “self-preservation,” as he described. Many find the moment strange, including the movie’s director who has even called it “weird” in retrospect. Yet it remains a symbol of romance and a topic of discussion today, more than two decades after the movie was released.
The point is that so many scenes and storylines in the movie are spoken about, decades after the movie came out. So much so that a made-for-TV short film sequel called Red Nose Day Actually was filmed in 2017 as part of the Red Nose Day 2017 fundraising special designed to raise funds to help end childhood poverty.
What Fans Have to Say About Love Actually
Sure, publications like The Guardian,Cosmopolitan, and Refinery29 don’t mince words in calling Love Actually one of the worst Christmas movies ever made. But they are missing the point, and don’t recognize the gem of a film that it is. As noted, the fact people still continue dissect some of the most polarizing scenes and storylines is proof that the movie has made an impact.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Love Actually has a decent 64% critics score and 72% audience score. On IMDb, it’s a similarly respectable 7.6/10. Of those who don’t like the movie, the comments typically relate to the feeling that the “plot” is disjointed. But that’s precisely the point. It’s a collection of various short “love” stories, some of which connect in ways and others that do not.
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It’s clear that of those who watched and like the movie, they have seen it more than just once. In a Reddit discussion about the merits of the film, Redditor don’t_shoot_jr says their roommate “once watched this movie every day for three months to help cope with his first breakup.” LotusB1ossom adds that it’s a “fun, light film, enjoyable if you don’t take it too seriously. I like that really what it’s about is the theme of love in its many incarnations.” KlaatuBrute describes the movie as like “going to a rom-com buffet.”
Bottom line: while there are Christmas classics that families will watch again and again with the kids, Love Actually is the type of movie to curl up to with a special someone, group of friends, even alone, and enjoy at least once a year during the holidays. There’s something magically cathartic about the movie for everyone, whether it’s someone who has just found a new love, is happily in love, or who hasn’t quite found the right one yet.
Silly criticisms aside, the movie is absolute perfection, a rom-com like no other that arguably inspired many ensemble cast rom-coms that came after it. It’s a movie any of the actors who appeared in it can feel proud to have on their resumes as it has carved a place in cinematic history. It might not have won awards and received mixed reviews from critics. But many now consider Love Actually to have much-deserved cult status. There’s no denying the tagline is something that will resonate and bring hope to so many. “If you look for it, I have a sneaky feeling, that you’ll find that love, is actually all around.”
Stream Love Actually on Amazon Prime Video.
