"Love Actually" is actually several interwoven tales of love, lust and loneliness, held up by a superb cast and simultaneously let down by rather subpar organization.
Fumbling toward relationship bliss are: England's new bachelor prime minister (Hugh Grant) and his perky secretary Natalie (Martine McCutcheon); Jamie, a writer (Colin Firth) who falls in love with his Portuguese housekeeper after discovering his wife's adultery; a lonely and preoccupied Sarah (Laura Linney) harboring a two-year crush on her Clark Kent-esque co-worker, Karl (Rodrigo Santoro); and an 11-year-old boy named Sam (Thomas Sangster) with an agonizing crush on the "coolest girl in school."
If you are lost already, keep in mind that there are more stories told than just these four, involving more adultery, sex, humor and lustful nuances than even director Richard Curtis is used to.
Curtis, who wrote "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill," is not a stranger to romantic comedy or the aloof charm of Grant, his frequent leading man.
The problem encountered in "Love Actually" arises when there are so many plotlines to follow that it becomes difficult to tie them up at the end.
The strongest relationship, between fresh-faced Sam and his stepfather Daniel (Liam Neeson), is heartwarming but slightly unbelievable.
Recovering from the recent death of his mother, Sam comes off as unnaturally wise beyond his years as he comfortably questions Daniel about his love life.
But it is hard to imagine any 11-year-old so candidly discussing the prospect of his stepfather dating again.
One of the best performances of the film comes from Bill Nighy who plays Billy Mack, an aging, ex-heroin addict rock star "searching for a comeback at any price." Mack (think part Keith Richards, part David Cassidy) is so candid about his absurdity as an artist and the ills of the industry that he ends up charming the socks off the British public, ruling the music charts with a cheesy rendition of The Troggs' "Love is All Around."
Mack, who simply changed the word "love" in the song to "Christmas" to accommodate the winter holiday season, does not hesitate to call the single "a festering turd."
Another great performance came from Emma Thompson as Karen, a married woman with the sneaking suspicion that her husband (Alan Rickman) is cheating on her with a younger woman at work (Heike Makatsch).
As she pieces together evidence of his potential affair, Karen's grief is portrayed so poignantly that it is impossible not to feel her heartache. She attempts to act normally in the presence of her children, but cannot stop her shaking, gravitational sobs when she retreats to her bedroom.
Only as this film closes do you begin to see how this mass of characters is related to one another.
While the movie is full of unrealistic, forced plot twists, I still hesitate to criticize the portrayals of people simply fighting for love, no matter what their interpretation of it is - even if, as Grant's character pointed out, "it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy." I think, perhaps, that is the point.
