Love Actually- aged well or not?

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Just started watching it on Netflix, not seen it for a while. I can’t believe it’s 18 years old! I still think of it as only a few years ago.

If you’ve watched it in the present day do you feel it’s now a bit dated? Or timeless Christmas classic?

@SequinsandStiIettos

jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388 This one? There are so many to choose from

Ha, yes, that's the one!

Some of my favourite actors, including the late and great Alan Rickman. Too many boobs for the sake of them, typical of a made by men for men film. How many women irl throw their tops off as soon as they start kissing a bloke?

I really want to hate Love Actually it I watch it every single Christmas. I know it's problematic, and sexist and hasn't aged brilliantly but it's such a classic, and so funny

I love it all apart from the Keira Knightley storyline.

My favourite Love Actually fact is that IRL there was only 5 years age difference between Kiera Knightly and the boy who plays Liam Neeson's stepson

The pornstars make me cringe so much.

I hate the Laura Linney part as well. Why can't she get some help with her brother?

Yes re Laura Linney, or more to the point why can't she have a relationship and also love her brother?! Weird that that was a deal breaker

It’s naff, however, Karl

@SequinsandStiIettos

jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388 This one? There are so many to choose from

Hahaa i love it. Keira Knightley and her terrible hairy wedding cardigan

Oh - well never posted on a love actually thread & not seen the article - does that make me a MN outlaw

I can't bear the Laura Linney scenes - too sad
Can't bear Kiera Knightly & Andrew Lincoln stuff - creepy
Hugh Grant Dancing round no. 10 I think is just funny
I am not a huge fan of Emma Thompson ( I am alone in this I know - she has oscars ) but that scene in the bedroom - by god she acted that well
I loved the Colin Firth bits where he can't speak the language properly

Bill Nighy is a legend.

It's terribly schmaltzy but once in a while I'll watch it

But in our house - my Grandad lived in Battersea and we do shout at the TV that the PM goes over the Wrong Way over Albert bridge to get from No.10 to Wandsworth ( I realise this is a niche point )

@YourFinestPantaloons

Yes re Laura Linney, or more to the point why can't she have a relationship and also love her brother?! Weird that that was a deal breaker

I think we see at the end that she's using her brother as an excuse to not get involved with Karl or anyone else. The brother doesn't call her; she calls him, after lightly dismissing Karl on Christmas eve. However, it's a badly written character, like many of the female characters possibly because, as Richard Curtis has said, his original script was longer but he was forced to cut out a lot of detail. I do wish he'd run the final script past some female friends who could have set him straight about a few things e.g. that shy and inexperienced women don't usually strip off minutes after picking up a guy at a party. Oh, and that no way would those hot Americans have fancied Colin. And also, that a staffer who described another staffer as "chubby girl sizeable arse huge thighs" was utterly unprofessional and inappropriate.

I love it. Watch it every year. Along with Die Hard 2 (and sometimes 1), Arthur Christmas (the best Christmas film ever made) and the Holiday. Can't wait.

I used to love it and watch it every year but I just can't stomach it now, so I definitely think it has dated. It does have an amazing cast and there are some great lines and moments but there's just too much dated crap like the fat shaming and the weird America storyline.

The Karl thing also bothers me. She was in love with him for a really long time and basically gave up because she was devoted to her brother. I get that it was hard for her, but i think she didn't have to sacrifice a relationship for him.

I love it but have to skip the Keira Knightly pouty/mouth open scenes.

Everything about the school concert is awful and what mad teacher decided Christmas Eve would be suitable?

Love it but some bits really grate especially the Keira knightly character watching her wedding video and she says 'I look quite pretty' ! Like she didn't already know !! Not keen on the Martine Mccutcheon character either. Also the Colin Firth part would he really have fallen for someone so dowdy when his wife was stunning albeit a cheat.

Love the film! Claim to fame here-colin firths cheating girlfriend was a childhood friend of mine :)

I don't think she's dowdy at all. I love the scenes between them.

Have you seen the storyline that didn't make it? I think someone linked it last year when this thread always pops up

I think it's the headteacher of the school and her partner who is at home, two wonderful actors, Anne Reid and Frances de la Tour

Still love it and agree ‘Ant or Dec’ is the highlight every time.

Dreadful on its first outing and no doubt just as awful!

I never took to this film even when it first came out.
I love Notting Hill and Four Weddings despite their flaws, so it isn't the general Richard Curtis franchise I dislike, just that film. O also enjoy other Hugh Grant and Colin Firth films, so it isn't that either.

Having said that, the Emma bedroom scene is incredible and I do enjoy Hugh Grant dancing...

It’s frothy rubbish on the whole but that Emma Thompson scene … wow.

Oh I also thought the funeral (the youngster’s mum) was very moving.

I also like “Ant or Dec” and that cringeworthy early scene where Kris Marshall is talking to the wedding caterer (played by Julia Davis).

Rickman brilliant.

I wish they’d kept Reid and de la Tour.

Should maybe have scrapped the uncomfortable Knightley/Lincoln stalking storyline - just kept his love secret and unrequited.

*Have you seen the storyline that didn't make it? I think someone linked it last year when this thread always pops up

I think it's the headteacher of the school and her partner who is at home, two wonderful actors, Anne Reid and Frances de la Tour*

Although the linked deleted Emma Thompson scenes with her maniacal cackling at her sons Christmas wish thing, then the one with her reference to the Frances character dying were cringe. Hopefully they’d have been fine tuned.

How many schools are there where the kids parents know the HT’s partner? Other than the HT at my son’s school is a Mrs so presumably married I couldn’t tell you a thing about her private life.

It's got its issues but it's entertainment, not a lesson in morality so I just enjoy it for what it is.

Same thing with the unlikely stripping off - the Portuguese maid suddenly strips off to dive into a fairly shallow lake to rescue Colin Firth's manuscript. I mean, she'd have rolled her trousers up and waded in from the edge, not dived off a jetty in her underwear!