So I recently watched the much acclaimed (and equally derided) Christmas movie Love Actually for the first time after hearing so much about it. Here are my thoughts:
I wish there had been at least one LGBT couple portrayed in the movie. With so many different relationships, they could have done more than just allude to the fact that gay people exist (in the Liam Neeson scene with his step son when he's first learning about the boy's crush, and in the scene between the aging rock star and his manager), they could have presented a gay relationship as well. They did not. The aging rock star and his manager was shown to be platonic love (as evidenced by the fact that his manager jokes about him "turning gay" when he breaks down and admits that the manager is the person he loves most in the world and the ending where the rock star has a girlfriend). Although it only portrayed straight relationships, it did portray them all as complicated. Here are the relationships I liked the best, the ones I absolutely hated and those I really didn't care either way.
I hated the Hugh Grant story arc. Loathed it. He was presented as a man in power, she was a woman in his employ. When he gets a fit of jealousy after seeing another man in power exerting his influence to sexually harrass this poor woman, instead of realize that is what happens he has her fired. Are we supposed to believe that this is love?
I also hated the Keira Knightly story line where the best friend of her new husband reveals his long-standing crush on her (creepy much) and especially hated how they tried to make it out to be romantic. It would have been better if he'd had a one-sided crush on his best friend to be honest. Although confessing it to either of them would still be creepy.
I was meh over the Alan Rickman story-line. The aging man getting attentions from a younger woman arc has been done to death. I did feel that Emma Thompson's performance as the wronged wife was very moving, but overall I could have done without this arc and its less than satisfactory conclusion.
The Laura Linney storyline was very sad, and was not given any kind of conclusion at the end when they're all meeting at the airport either. Presumably, the woman is still without boundaries towards her brother because she assumes he cannot understand boundaries since he has some kind of mental health problem. I do understand this story-line of her putting her own wants and needs on the back burner for years so she can tend to the needs of someone she loves, however, I would have liked to see her gain some boundaries or something. It was just so obvious that she felt harangued by her brother and the whole martyr character trope doesn't sit well with me. No one is that selfless. In real life she would have snapped and said something mean to her brother when he called during the one chance she had with the guy she's been mooning over for years.
I was much more impressed with the Colin Firth storyline where he is a bumbling idiot writer, she is his temporary maid and they have a communication gap because neither speaks the other's language. Not so impressed that I bought him proposing to her the first time they have a real conversation, but impressed nevertheless. I liked how they kept saying the same things even though they didn't know what the other was saying.
I was especially impressed with the asexual nature of the Martin Freeman story arc where even though they are playing a couple being sexually intimate on screen, they are simply having normal conversations about everyday things. It felt refreshing.
I loved the Liam Neeson arc because it was about him bonding with his stepson. I could have done without the part where he met the hot mom of one of his stepson's friends near the end. The fact that he just wants to help his stepson despite his own grief at the recent loss of his wife was moving. I also loved how ready he was to accept that his stepson might be gay and didn't just assume that the person he was crushing on was a girl.
The older rockstar and his manager being the only platonic relationship represented did feel a bit offputting. I mean, obviously there were other relationships, familial relationships between the characters, but the main interactions were always with the love interest, except in this instance (and the father/son dynamic). I was hoping (before the kiss) that the Martin Freeman arc would be platonic in nature, but I like that it was asexual at least.
All in all I agree with the synopsis that there are too many different story lines and none of them gets developed enough. The ones that are good seem rushed, I'd like to just cut out all the ones I didn't like and further develop the ones I did. Also, make the rock star bi at least and the relationship with his manager romantic. Why not?
