Love Actually [Blu-ray]

Twenty minutes into this movie, I laughed out loud. From that point on, I never stopped smiling.It's now three days later and I haven't stopped smiling.A movie you want to wrap your arms around and hug, "Love Actually" is an anthology of love stories involving over a dozen people set in modern pre-Christmas London.A woefully incomplete list:Hugh Grant, the new young British PM, falls for his tea server. Newly widowed Liam Neeson bonds with his young stepson. The stepson is hopelessly smitten by a girl in his class named Joanna. Emma Thompson plays the PM's sister, married to Alan Rickman. He is disaffected with his home life, and is flirting with the idea of flirting with his secretary. Laura Linney works for Rickman, and has a crush on a co-worker, but her life is complicated by a mentally ill brother. Two adult film stand-ins develop a sweet relationship while hanging around nude and simulating sex so the film crew can set up for the real deal. The adult film directors' roommate heads to the U.S. because all U.S. women are hot, and they all want to have sex with English men.Supposedly.Keira Knightly is a newlywed who discovers someone else may be drawn to her. Bill Nighy steals the film as an aged rock star, angling for the Number One spot on the charts. Writer Colin Firth obsessing about his new Portuguese housekeeper.Well, you KNOW how this movie is going to end. You really do. It's no surprise.If it didn't end the way you THOUGHT it would, it would suck.It's like music. You expect verse-chorus-verse, maybe a guitar solo here or some background vocals there, but the overall pattern is constant. It's the CONTENT that sets it apart.This film is SO funny, with so many loops and asides, you'll be giddy. It's smart and sweet and heartwarming, all in the best way without being sappy or cloying.This film is LOADED with uncredited guest stars. I won't spoil all the fun (there's at least a half dozen) but when the daughter from the TV show "24" showed up, I giggled. Get a load of the guy who plays the President of The United States. An absolute hoot.The soundtrack is astonishing. An absolutely perfect melding of pop songs/performances to situations. Eva Cassidy's 'Songbird" is appropriately aching. The Beach Boys "God Only Knows" soars. The movie ends with a Christmas pageant performance bringing many (if not all) of the characters together, and little Joanna brings down the house.While it is a romantic comedy, not every tale has a conventional or happy ending. Some are, yes, but others are bittersweet. Unrequited love. Familial love. The love between best friends, or old friends.Puppy love, which if you think about it, may be the purest form of true love. You just like somebody, and you don't know or care why. You just do and that's it.The love of sex. The love of possible sex. Love AFTER sex.Love of parents, children, brothers, sisters, co-workers and colleagues; the love of cultures, of tradition, of language...So I guess the overall theme of the film really is just love, actually.

I saw Love Actually when it opened in theaters. I was already a HUGE fan of Notting Hill, and so looked forward to writer Richard Curtis' next film, which turned out to be LA, and with him directing it, too. I went in with high hopes, and while I did like it, I was a bit disappointed because it wasn't as good as NH. But that's changed...I still believe Notting Hill is the better of the two film, but with each viewing of this movie I do actually love Love Actually! Curtis has combined a number of stories of friends, husband, wives, and lovers that crossover into each other, each one with romance and each with laughs, and the first time I saw it I thought he had too many plotpoints. But now I feel it really works.Curtis, who also wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral and the Black Adder TV series, knows how to deliver a comedy line almost better than anyone else. And many other lines are quite precious. Come on, it is impossible to resist a film that has a kid saying to his stepfather, "Okay, Dad. Let's do it. Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love."And what a cast! Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon, Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman (The Hobbit), Joanna Page (Stacey in TV series Gavin & Stacey), and other wonderful actors, including two well-played appearances by Curtis veteran Rowan Atkinson. Also look for January Jones (Mad Men), Elisha Cuthbert (24), Ivana Milicevic (Bond girl in Casino Royale), Denise Richards, Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie), and Claudia Schiffer. Plus Billy Bob Thornton.Picture quality is very good, a step up from the DVD. Audio is terrific, and makes full use of speakers in many musical background moments.Extras are carried over from the DVD (in standard definition) and they are quite rich. There's about 35 minutes in deleted scenes; plus Curtis introducing choices of music for the film; a couple of music videos; a featurette on the making; and a very funny commentary with Curtis, Hugh Grant, and others (Grant makes fun of Firth whenever he shows up on screen).HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! A great film for Christmas viewing.

I love this movie and it has been one of my staples around Christmas time ever since it came out!