“You must not know ’bout me, you must not know ’bout me…”
I abso-fucking-lutely adore Love, Actually. I was up until 4 this morning watching that thing, which is sad considering a) I own it and b) I’ve drunkenly watched it at least twice within the past 2 weeks. It’s great because I always notice something new with each viewing. Plus, I fall madly in love with a different female character each time.
I first saw it in the theatre, back during NYC Tour ’03 when I was looking for toy jobs (man, did that go nowhere!). For some reason, I was drawn to Laura Linney’s character, Sarah. Sure, she was kind of mousy, but I could somehow relate to the issue of pining for someone, and everyone in creation knows, but worrying that your family/life circumstances might fuck things up. The idea that this one person or situation might make you happier than you’ve ever been, but maybe you aren’t *supposed* to be happy. Twisted, I know, but that’s how I related to the character, and to her as an actress. She’s done a ton of stuff, but I didn’t notice her until her office crush on Karl was outed by the delightful Alan Rickman.
Speaking of Rickman, let me also say that I fell in love with his delivery in this movie. Sure, he’s in Dogma (my least favorite Smith film) and some other stuff, but his subtlety spoke volumes here. And while I didn’t fall in love with her, the lust/danger factor of his assistant, played by Heike Makatsch, is incredible. She’s both weird looking and the sexiest thing ever, all at the same time.
When I bought the DVD, I found myself CRAZY for Keira Knightley. Sure, she’d been in Bend it Like Beckham, but she wasn’t exactly attractive. Well, she was, but there wasn’t exactly anything feminine about her. I still remember how the trades referred to her as “The world’s sexiest tomboy beanpole.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement. It’s like how porn sites call ugly chicks “exotic”. But in Love, Actually, she is so cute it hurts. And, once again, I could sort of understand the issue of loving someone and watching them get married, knowing that your shot is pretty much gone. I mean, the scene where Mark reveals his feelings via cue cards makes me heart hurt.
All in all, my favorite girl in the whole place is Martine McCutcheon, who plays Natalie. The Natalie/Prime Minister pairing is especially great for me, because I think I love Hugh Grant as much as I love Martine. I have *always* had a thing for Martine, dating all the way back to her years on Eastenders (I’ll never forgive those blimey bastards for letting her character get hit & killed by that car!). Since I follow British gossip, I think reality sort of seeps in and I feel bad for her, knowing how little luck she’s had in love (wiki her for more details).
In any case, I think she is utterly perfect. I mean, she is the bee’s knees, yet the whole movie, her family’s calling her fat and she’s getting felt up by the American president. I just want to swoop in and save her. But if I can’t do it, then I can think of no better man than Hugh Grant. It wins the prize for the “cute love story”, but I’m always amazed that Martine meets the British equivalent of “overweight”. That’s a crying shame…
Runner-up for cuteness would have to be Jack and Judy. I mean, anytime you can spend weeks together, filming simulated sex scenes, but can’t exactly muster the courage to kiss the woman good night, well that’s just mindfuckingly precious.
Now, for the title of “most beautiful love story”, that completely goes to Aurelia and Jamie. I mean, the whole “love is a universal language” theme could be a bit heavy-handed, but I still think it’s so heartwarming. The scene where he’s about to drive her home, and remarks that the drive is his favorite part of his day, while she responds that leaving him is the saddest part of her day. They don’t know what the other is saying, but they’re still on the same page. *Sigh* As far as Aurelia, I go back and forth on her with each viewing. Sometimes, she looks sort of like a rat, while others she is the most beautiful creature to ever speak Portugese.
Now, I know some might disagree with me, but I always feel like the most useless parts of the movie are Colin coming to America (it’s funny, but unnecessarily ruins the flow of things) and Sam falling for the little halfie Joanna who sings better than Mariah Carey (interesting fact: Olivia Olson sang the song so well that the producers didn’t think anyone would believe that it was her. As a result, they actually taught her to sing it a bit less refined so that the audience would believe it was being sung by a real 12 yr old.). Don’t get me wrong, I love the Colin stuff, as well as any chance to see January Jones or Ivana Miličević (Head Over Heels, great movie, btw!). And I think the Sam stuff is cute, but we’re talking about a 3 hr movie here! If you cut out all the unnecessary stuff about Liam Neeson’s wife dying and the subsequent bonding with Sam, you could shave a good 30 mins off. I know that the Christmas play was the unifying force that got all of the players together, but it could have been done without the Sam stuff. And watching that final airport stuff always makes me think “you could never pull this off post-9/11”, which is odd considering the movie was written as a response to 9/11.
Anyway, I’m losing focus because I think this thing might be my favorite movie of all time, yet I know a lot of people disagree with me (just as with Moulin Rouge), so I’ll cease my ramblings here. I close, though, saying that Bill Nighy should have won an Oscar for his role as Billy Mack! It is one of the best performances of 2003, and I really think he was the star of the movie. From his disdain for his own single to his realization of his love for his manager, he really played every facet of his aged rocker character. Plus, (and only the Brits will get this reference) he took the piss from Blue, live with “Ant or Dec”. I really wish someone would find a project for Ant & Dec in America…
