A dumb article attacking Love Actually is making the rounds, so I’ll just re-link the post I wrote five years ago on the movie: “Let’s get the shit kicked out of us my love!”.
I’d add that the film isn’t just about romantic love. It’s about so many kinds of love, all of them listed by Hugh Grant in the movie’s opening minute. Young Samuel’s love story isn’t even about his own romantic love: it’s a backdoor entry into a story about the love between stepfather and stepson.
The movie also shows, quite rightly, that love is a different thing for different people. For some it’s about finding the person to spend life with; for others, love’s about the life that’s been built. And for still others, it’s simply about finding someone to “shag”.
There are times when I read articles like this and I wonder if the point isn’t really to just provide the world with a bit of half-arsed contrarianism. I think of people who seemingly walk the earth in search of things with which to disagree.
I love this movie, and what's more, Joni Mitchell loves it. If someone as cool as Joni likes something, who's to argue?
…And then to Love, Actually, a film where her 2000 version of Both Sides Now was featured prominently. She said she heard it was to be a chick flick, but once she saw it she really enjoyed it. "If only they made all chick flicks like that!"…