Love Actually (2003)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Richard Curtis

Writer:

Richard Curtis (written by)

Release Date:

14 November 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Love actually is all around.

Plot:

Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Christmas | England | Prime Minister | Wisconsin

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 10 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Bill Nighy	...	Billy Mack
Gregor Fisher	...	Joe
Rory MacGregor	...	Engineer
Colin Firth	...	Jamie Bennett
Sienna Guillory	...	Jamie's Girlfriend
Liam Neeson	...	Daniel
Emma Thompson	...	Karen
Lulu Popplewell	...	Daisy, her daughter
Kris Marshall	...	Colin Frissell
Heike Makatsch	...	Mia
Martin Freeman	...	John
Joanna Page	...	Just Judy
Chiwetel Ejiofor	...	Peter
Andrew Lincoln	...	Mark
Keira Knightley	...	Juliet

Also Known As:

Love Actually Is All Around (UK) (working title) (USA) (working title)
Untitled Richard Curtis Project (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and language.

Runtime:

135 min | Canada:129 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | South Korea:129 min (Asian Edition)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Portuguese | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Malaysia:18SX | Iceland:L | France:U | Ireland:15 | South Korea:15 (Asian edition) (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIA (original rating) | Hong Kong:III (DVD rating) | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Philippines:R-18 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 (video rating) (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (video rating) (cut) | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #40173)

Filming Locations:

Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The idea for Mark's surprise of the band singing "All You Need Is Love" at Peter and Juliet's wedding came from Jim Henson's funeral (which Richard Curtis attended) where all the puppeteers brought their Muppets and sung a song.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The PM watches Billy Mack on an episode of "Parkinson" (1971) - it is shown in "proper" 16:9 widescreen (obvious from the amount of space on either side of the chairs). Parkinson has never been produced (to date in 2004) in widescreen, even after the BBC started aggressively producing more shows in 16:9 after the advent of digital TV in the UK.

Quotes:

Billy Mack: Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!

Movie Connections:

References The Princess Bride (1987)

Soundtrack:

Puppy Love

A film for those who can cope with more than just one story line.

This was a most intriguing film. There are of course other reviews of it here, but the one common theme that seems to exist in all reviews is the simple fact that you can never please all the people all of the time.

For myself I loved the film and the way that all the stories were intertwined. You could spend ages just trying to work out where the various connections between the story lines actually were.

But there were two very special moments for me in this film. One was where Mark (Andrew Lincoln) finally told Juliet(Keira Knightley ) how he REALLY felt about her, through the medium of the messages on the cards, (surely many of us have experienced that sort of unrequited love), the other was the brilliant brief speech given by the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) to the press conference at which the American President was present. (Both of these appear as quotes elsewhere on this site.) I felt that it was a very brave move on the part of the writer (Richard Curtis) to allow the Prime Minister in the film to state what so many ordinary British people are feeling about America and its politics right now.

I also feel that we, the British, are finally beginning to move away from under the Hollywood shadow, and are starting once again to produce some really excellent films of our own. And for me, this film just underlines this fact. May this trend continue.

Claire Rosemary Jane.