Christmas Is All Around

Love Actually (2003)
Written and directed by Richard Curtis
Starring Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Laura Linney and Martine McCutheon
Cameos by Rowan Atkinson and Billy Bob Thornton

Love Actually was written by my favorite romantic-comedy screenwriter Richard Curtis whose other credits include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones' Diary, The Boat That Rocked, Mr. Bean, and Black Adder.   Set in London in the five-week period leading up to Christmas, Love Actually focuses on nine interlocking stories of all kinds of love--unrequited, fulfilled, illicit, lost, and platonic.

Jilted Jamie is a writer holed up in a rustic house in the south of France who falls for his Portuguese housekeeper.  David, newly elected Prime Minister, is enchanted by one of his housekeepers.  Mark is in love with his best friend's wife.  Widower Daniel helps his step-son deal with his first love.  Karen suspects her husband is about to engage in an affair with his secretary.  Colin, fed up with "stuck up" British girls, flies to Wisconsin where he's sure American girls will love him for his "cute British accent."  Sarah, an American abroad, is smitten with a colleague.  And Jack and Judy get acquainted while filming a porn movie.  Meanwhile, aging pop star Billy Mack is attempting the impossible:  a number one Christmas hit.

Rated R for language and nudity, Love Actually is actually a heartwarming fun Christmas movie with a fabulous ensemble cast and a terrific soundtrack.  So good is the music I couldn't choose only one video to accompany this post.  Or maybe it's just because, like Karen (Emma Thompson), I love Joni Mitchell, and "true love lasts a lifetime."  Incidentally, for another good Christmas movie, click on One Magic Christmas to read my review from last December.





Here are the Amazon links:
Love Actually (Widescreen Edition)

Love Actually (Blu-ray)

Love Actually Original Soundtrack