AIBU to think Love Actually was written for a bet

[Baileyscheesecake]

I've just watched Love Actually for the first time. (Yes I know I'm behind the times - it was released in 2003). Just from watching the trailer when it was released it never appealed to me but after someone on mumsnet said it was her fav film and she watches it every Christmas I thought I'd give it a chance.

I can't believe how atrocious it is and my only conclusion is that Richard Curtis wrote it as a bet to prove that he could write and direct a film with the weakest storylines and poorest drawn characters imaginable and still get a best selling film: held together only by fantastic cinematography, feel good music and talented actors.

Even the part brilliantly played by Bill Nighy points to the truth - he releases a crap song just for the Christmas market which he himself admits is terrible and it incredulously gets to number one based on hype, marketing and the terrible taste of the general public. Was Richard Curtis laughing behind our backs all the way to the bank?

[MsVestibule]

It does appear to be quite a divisive film! Despite enjoying romantic comedies, I didn’t watch this until a couple of years ago and thought it was absolute tripe. I couldn’t believe how bad the storylines and the script was.

[CourtneyLoveIsMySpiritAnimal]

[NewYearNiki]

Bill Nighy as Billy Mack makes me laugh.

Other than that. Shite.

[MakeMisogynyAHateCrime]

I’m with you! It’s a bag of shite and some for sure bet him to write the worst film ever. You’ve turned it into a Black Mirror episode now and for that I love you.

If I meet someone and they mention Love Actually (and people who like it always do) then I know we can never be friends. So it’s quite useful in that respect.

[PrinceofWales]

Ah now I love it.

It sums up a lot of what I feel is special about Christmas and family, I love the humour in it and the amazing cast. It's my ultimate feel good film and I love saving it for the run up to Christmas.

[Battleax]

He's been phoning it in for a while and was a one trick pony to start with.

[Jojoanna]

I think it’s rubbisjh

[LaurieMarlow]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388/amp

This is hilarious.

Despite seeing LA for the tripe that it is, I can still enjoy watching it, so go figure.

Curtis's direction is so slick. He's always knows how to push the right buttons, in a way that's almost cynical when you step back from it.

[LaurieMarlow]

Dammit, I thought I was being original.

Still 'cockblocktopus' (or whatever) will never not deserve an outing.

[juliesaway]

It’s a god awful, pisstakey film, hammily acted, utterly cringeworthy and saccharine sweet. Good to watch when drunk or on drugs.

[Jayfee]

I thought this was THE most boring film ever!

[Battleax]

I keep retrying it every few years, thinking the Emma Thomson storyline is something that gets you in the ribs at a "certain age". Still nothing so far.

I think that's Martine's own acccent Peng.

[Tartyflette]

It's a weird thing but when I first saw it in 2003 or whenever I thought it was utter crap too, (ditto Notting Hill apart from the mayonnaise joke which made me laugh like a drain) but now if I watch it on TV (accidentally, of course ) it has a sort of comforting, if hackneyed, familiarity to it. And I don't mind it nearly as much as I did back then, when it was a huge disappointment.
Many, many parts of it are still execrable, of course.

[mercurymaze]

Agree with you I find it a really wincey film im embarrassed for everyone in it

[SaucyJack]

The Emma Thompson storyline made me cry. Been there meself when I was younger.

Genuinely pleased for anyone who didn't relate to that.

[Battleax]

I'm not going to watch again to check

Yes, the toned down swearingbia weird, it's true.

[Battleax]

Genuinely pleased for anyone who didn't relate to that.

Oh sorry

I think it's the keeping totally quiet I don't get.

[Sparklingbrook]

I don't like it at all. but I am not a fan of the whole Four Wedding and a Funeral/Notting Hill stuff. One watch is suffice.

[Hoppinggreen]

That blog article is bloodd hilarious!,!

[derxa]

I watched it in its entirety for the first time last year because of MN. It's so wrong it's right. Why do films get school productions so wrong? It also has two of my most unfavourite actors in it. Martine Mc and Alan Rickman (RIP nothing against him personally). Otherwise I enjoyed it

[AnElderlyLadyOfMediumHeight]

'Enjoyable bollocks' is spot on. For whatever unfathomable reason, my dh, whose fare of choice is usually in the gruesome action-film genre or invoves Bruce Lee, utterly loves it. We watch it together every Christmas. It's a ritual.

[AskBasil]

I love it. It's feelgood crap. The storylines are crap except Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson, which is absolutely believable.

All the other storylines are perfectly dreadful. They're all knowing winking male fantasies of male projection of women and then finding out their projection is correct - hurrah! Happy ever after

Colin Firth falling in love with a woman he doesn't know
Hugh Grant falling in love with anyone other than himself
That awful bloke falling in love with Keira Knightley and demanding that she keeps his secret about his creepy feelings about her
That kid. FFS
That young tosser who acts out a scene with Americans. Ha di ha.
Bloke who loves porn more than actual women. Tick.

All good fun. Love it.



And yes, you may be onto something.

Just how much cheese and romance tropes can I put in a film without it being offensive because I'll do it so well and have such a great cast.