Love Actually

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Love Actually ★★½ 2003 (R)

One movie, ten love stories, and like any episodic multi-character, intertwining storyline romance, some work and some don't. The most engaging are those involving the bachelor Prime Minister (Grant), his sister (Thompson) with the wandering husband, and the aging rocker Billy Mack (Nighy). Richard Curtis, already established as a worthy romantic comedy writer, crams in absolutely every possible love situation as if he may never direct again. The good is sweet enough to mostly offset the bad, but a less-crowded story would help. 129m/C VHS, DVD . GB Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Heike Makatsch, Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Laura Linney, Rodrigo Santoro, Thomas Sangster, Liam Neeson, Kris Marshall, Colin Firth, Lucia Moniz, Joanna Page, Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Rowan Atkinson, Claudia Schiffer, Shannon Elizabeth, Denise Richards, Sienna Guillory, Gregor Fisher; D: Richard Curtis; W: Richard Curtis; C: Michael Coulter; M: Craig Armstrong. British Acad. ‘03: Support. Actor (Nighy); L.A. Film Critics ‘03: Support. Actor (Nighy).