LOVE ACTUALLY

Richard Curtis is best known for writing such hits as Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, and one of Hyperion’s favorite movies, Four Weddings and a Funeral. Here Curtis sets out to direct for the first time, and the result is a warm wonderful comedy. Set in London the five weeks before Christmas, Love Actually shows the lives and loves of about a dozen intermixed characters. You’ll have a hard time deciding which story line is your favorite (mine were the little boy and the writer with language block), as the action zips from one to the next. There is plenty of humor here, lots of romance (but not in a chick-flick sort of way), and even a little touch of sadness, to make you appreciate the good parts all the more (a la the funeral in Four Weddings).

All in all; this is a very enjoyable film I can’t recommend to sentimentalists enough. One caveat: following the somewhat bizarre British tradition of demanding nudity in all their forms of art (including commercials), there is some here. The nudity isn’t necessary but not offensive or suggestive. However, you should be warned in case you take someone who might object. Just explain to them it’s a peculiar thing that Brits do.

Suspension of Disbelief Index: 3. There’s a bit too much magic for real life, but who cares?

Genre Grade: Feel-Good Movie: A

Pantheon Percentile: 83. This one will be with us for a long time.