Spoilers

Ive had this film on my mind today for my 2021 festive viewing, & ive got home from work to a txt from my sister to say shes finished for the year & that shes got a bottle of prosecco & is watching Love Actually, so if its good enough for her then its definitely good enough for me tonight.

So i know its been a while since ive seen this film now for the first time & for this umpteenth rewatch in 2021 but every time ive been on my blog since ive watched this & knew i had to write it up at some point ive tried to work out how best to write it. Do i do it via weeks, so i do it via storys, do i do it by what i love, or do i just go crazy. After much self debating I have gone for characters & there arch’s. Yes i know some cross but ill do it in order of the stories being my favourite i think. I mean ill get distracted along the way for sure…

So lets start with Billy Mack & his attempt to get to christmas number one (yea you werent expecting that were you) its absolute carnage & also doenst muck up many others storys at all. From getting the lyrics wrong, the dodgy video & the cringe radio interview, its exactly what an aging rocker in the early 00s would have done to get to number one for christmas.
The Radio interview really is amazing, especially the fact that one DJ is being mean about the song & then is like ahhh hes on in a min lets be nice.
Hes then on Parkinson which is hilarious saying he will get naked on top of the pops if he is christmas number one. I mean yea people have done that on live tv to get to number one or win an award but it would be what he would do.
& then its the fact he does get to number one & goes to Elton Johns Christmas Party & then comes back to his agent to say all the glory & money & girls isnt worth it, he loves his best friend with all his heart. I love that. Thats really unrequited love right there, which then just turns back into them with the line “lets get pissed & watch porn”.
But the highlight of his story is when he is on SMTV CDUK (if you are not a British millennial or you dont have them as your kids you missed out on the best saturday tv ever) & hes talking to Ant & Dec (if you dont know them get on youtube right now & type in chums or wonkey donkey or friends like these or britains got talent{iconic}) & hes talking to them about the battle for christmas number one. its prize for their competition they have each week & hes brought in a pen & he defaces the Blue poster by writing on it that they all have small pricks. Now thats hilarious enough & very awkward (SMTV CDUK was a kids show but also had the first chart of the weekend on a saturday) but then the point that out to him & he says the following line
Hi Kids, its your Uncle Bill here
Dont buy Drugs (you know thats a good message isnt it)
Become a Popstar & they give you them for free!!! (& he gets cut off the air)
Its hilarious. I love it so much. No matter how many times i see that i laugh my head off at that moment. As a kid who would have watched that on tv & how bad it would have been to happen on tv in the early 00s would have been brilliant & probably would have helped him get to number one. Its amazing. Serious british comedy at its finest.

The next best story is Liam & Thomas staring as Daniel & Sam. Its so beautiful & its one of two that always makes me cry. The other one the older ive got i cry at as i understand it more (we will get to that later tho) but this one as a teenager even made me cry. Its not the sadness that his mum & wife are dead, its not the relationship they build (well it is) but its the run through the airport. Once he leaps through that first security thing & the score ramps up & hes just running to go tell the girl he loves that he loves her, it always makes me cry my eyes out (oh god a soppy songs just come on while im typing im gonna well up arent i{darn you mcfly}) Maybe it was being that age & having crushes at school & wanting to tell them everything when this film came out that hits a cord. & then when he gets there, he freezes & she knows who he is. & then she comes back for him & he just hug his step dad (remember not actually biological son) ooooh that hurts & gets you in the feels. Your family is what you make it & its perfect. & we learn that not from the earlier funeral or the bench chat, but the Titanic do you trust me moment. I love that. Its the exact conversation you have with your kids at some point. Its just lovely & its the best love story in it. Also the fact he ends up with Claudia is brilliant, well done Richard. Its the one i most root for as i saw my slef as those 12 & 13 year olds in this film. Also all i want for christmas is you is a tune no matter who sings it.

The Emma & Alan as Karen & Harry. Oh this all seems to be going well with a little mild flirting & then that christmas party happens & it all goes wrong for them. & her emotional breakdown in her bedroom the week before christmas listening to Joni Mitchell is the saddest thing ever caught on camera (the film up is drawn). The fact he listened to her emotional education & what she liked for once was beautiful & any other year she would have been happy with that. But knowing there was a necklace somewhere just ruins her & now ruins me. Dame Emma is having a kitchen floor reset in her bedroom for a good 2 mins listening to the most beautiful song & then she wipes her eyes & goes downstairs & continues liek nothing is wrong & just continues as normal. Its so true of what happened behind so many closed doors across the country. Its heartbreakingly true.
& then when she asks him at the end, when shes got the courage to do it is amazing, as we all know so many people who dont. however he never answers… he just admits to being a fool, which hurts a lot too. He never confirms or denies it at all. I mean he does go away for a while & come the end they are figuring it out between them, which again is what would happen in real life. They are the perfect double act in this & make it so much more than just a rom com & make it a film to be taken seriously.

One thing links these two big storys other than school & being besties. Its Rowan Atkinsons comic timing, in Harrods for the necklace & the air port. Brilliant. Only on screen for 6mins in total but amazing. Perfect distraction from something so seriously heart breaking at times in both of them

Now for the one i enjoy the most on another level, Sarah & Kyle… Mainly for Kyle. This is probably where i get my type of men from. HE raised my expectation in them. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I think when i first saw this as a teen i was blushing quite a lot through his scenes. & then they eventually get together & dance at the party & he takes her home… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh… i mean id freak out like that if i got the most gorgeous man in the world to come home with me too. (sorry im thirsting now my bad {i know some of you hate it}) & then he takes off all his clothes *passes out even now* i think thats how i found out my sister was watching this she message going ooooh kyle is on my tv & i was like who & she sent me a screen grab. But it doesnt matter if you have the most handsome man in the world in your bed, your brothers mental health is more important & so is family. I mean he had a point when he said would it make him better if she answered the phone. But then at the end when she decides to see him at christmas, thats very sweet & heart breaking. Does now as an adult make me thingk would i kick the likes of Tom or Cillian or Pedro out of bed if there was a family emergency… hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i think it would depend on how far along we were but at the point where she does, nah the family can wait.

So now for David & Natalie.
Our political system right now (in october 2022) is mucked up by the way. It was pretty crap in 2021 in fact it has been since 2015 if were being honest & there is a lot of chat saying the last time we has a PM we could trust was Hugh Grant as David in love actually. I mean im not sure we can trust him look what he did to Paddington. But if im honest its not the love story im bothered about here. Its him being PM & being a badass about it. Telling the Americans where to go (Billy Bob ahhhhhh) & then dancing up & down downing street to Jump. I love that i really hope every PM has done that at some point since. I love that.
& then the end when he goes to every house is brilliant. & you meet all the different people in the street.
Questions for the rest of the world do you call where you live dodgy? we do here in the UK. Wherever you live is dodgy, i mean you love it but no one has a good thing initially about where they live here. Like im from lancing but ive lived in the 2 decent parts of it. Not the bad or the posh parts but where i live is just okay if you get me. Do you all do that?
& then the fact he goes to the school play. & its the octopus in the car. Also his shock when his police escort can sing that well. I dont think Hugh knew that was coming out of his mouth. I love it.
I love that he talks about love at the start as like his manifesto too & how it starts with random people meeting at the airport too. proper mirrors. I love it when films do that.

Now Mark & Juliette… creepy yea… but sweet yea i guess. I mean he at least does eventually know when to stop doesnt he. Also how come no one else carol sung in that street for anyone else. Ive been to that street & noise carries up & down it very well.
& i know she wants her wedding video but i would not give up my banoffee pie for it. Nah, i mean id give you anything for a piece of banoffee pie myself so maybe i could be convinced.
When he walks out & jus leaves her in the flat is sweet but sad & also like ooooh my revelation at it all. As a teenager i hadnt worked it out. I thought he was gay too, in fact another character mentions it at the wedding.
Also all you need is love at the wedding is just done so lushly.

Now for the Firth.
In our family we do because of this film say just in cases. Seriously we all do. Its stuck.
The little looks they have & the stolen moments they share even with a langue barrier. They are just so adorable & lovely & really is saying everything without saying anything. & then both of them learning the language for the other & then his air port dash on christmas eve. I mean that is more film cliché than Sam earlier in the film (hes a kid he gets away with it) an adult doesnt get away with that.
& the music playing as he searches for her with all those people following him is amazing. & her family are brilliant. They are comedy gold at a very powerful moment of the film as this is it this is the end of the film. Colin is so good he does so much heavy lifting here, its all about wanting to see him go mushy. Oh & they put him in a lake like Mr Darcey, happy days for all the mamas.

Colin going to America is good for so many reasons. I mean its also wrong but hes right.
So when i last went to America, i went to a deli for coffee & cake & i got to the front & asked for a hot chocolate, an espresso & two slices of cherry cheese cake. & a woman tapped me on the shoulder & said to me excuse me could you repeat the end of that sentance & i did & she went oh my god your voice is just amazing are you from England? cos your not from manchester or london are you? I just stood there dumbfounded. Someone loved my voice. I am not posh & until about 12 years ago didnt realise i had an accent, but i do its slightly posher than common but its not posh & its not chav or Essex (sorry to anyone ive just upset) but yea i made a familys day in new york & i sat down with my food & my dad was like the hell just happened & i said ive made an americans life Colin from love actually was right.
Also the music they play when he gets to America is the Calling & Rob Thomas & Santana… what could be wrong with that (other than the foursome).

& finally theres John & Just Judy which is such a small story of people being body doubles for sex scenes for actors in films or tv & then when it comes to going on the date or asking each other out they are so shy. I love them its so adorable.

I know some people see this as a bit to problematic & all over the place & not a real life, & that its missing out part of the uk & its all london based, & i get there point, but other wise this would be an even longer film & i love the fact they do all connect at point & influence each other. IT just works so well.

& then the end with everyone being at the airport like the start, resolving all their tales is lovely. Its so clever & brilliant. &then the beach boys playing it out. Richard Curtis did pick the right songs for this film, Jump, the trouble with love, too lost in you ooooh its an epic soundtrack its amazing. I still listen to it every now & then. & the score. The score is phenomenal, it really really is.

Ohhh its just such a warm hug of a christmas film. You can sit there with tea or wine & watch this. Be it with an other half or the family or friends, its suitable for everyone over the age of 12. IT just gets it right.
Its a modern chrismtas classic & i love it sooooo much. It was until this year (2022) the last decent rom com we had. Its jsut everything.

& it is proof that love actually really is all around.

Thanks for joining my love actually ted talk. well done if youve got this far.