3.5/4
Love Actually is a 2003 British romantic comedy film with an ensemble cast. There has been several movies with a similar kind of deal like Valentine's Day and He's Just Not That Into You. However, the movie that started it all still reigns as the king of romantic comedies for me. I can proudly say that I have seen this movie many times since I was a kid, because it is one of my favorite movies of all time. This must be my fourth or fifth time seeing this movie. Every time I see this film, my heart melts. Now, I know that this review is starting to sound pretty gay. There were so many parts in Love Actually when I got goosebumps. When I watch a movie and get goosebumps, that means that the emotion in the scene was too overwhelming for me. There isn't any other romantic comedy that I can think of that gave me goosebumps. There may have been some, but I have seen so many bad and mediocre romances that I'm starting to get sick of romantic movies. Most romantic movies nowadays are forgettable so-called chick flicks that don't seem to know much about love. Here we have Love Actually, a movie with ten separate but somewhat intertwined stories that each concern a different aspect of love. I don't want to get into much detail, because there are a lot of stories. Most of the actors did very well in their parts and had great chemistry in each storyline. Also, the score and soundtrack are phenomenal. However, this film is not perfect. It suffers some of the same problems with Valentine's Day but not as drastic. There were just too many storylines in Love Actually, and one or two good ones didn't get enough attention. There are three storylines that should've been cut: the one with the two stand-ins for sex scenes, the one with the woman too shy to ask her coworker out, and the one with the guy going to America to get laid. The last one mentioned was only added in to give some humor to the British at the expense of Americans, I think. None of these three storylines were very interesting and had any notable performances. Thankfully, they were all extremely short, but together, they took too much screen time from the great actors and storylines. Also, there was some bad dialogue in this movie, mostly in the beginning and the three not so good storylines I mentioned. Despite these flaws, I gave Love Actually a perfect rating. All film critics have a movie that they hold very dear to their hearts. Love Actually is an excellent romantic comedy and remains to be my favorite romance. In fact, I consider it to be in my top ten favorite movies of all time, and there isn't any other romantic film that comes close to my top ten favorites. There was just so much emotion throughout the movie with the different storylines. I'm even going to admit that I almost cried at the end and teared a little. I really hope that one day there are going to be more romantic movies like Love Actually being made. There have been some other very good ones, but none that can compete to Love Actually in my mind.
