Or is half of Love Actually the most smug and self satisfied film ever?

[JakeBullet]

Just watching it again now......I mean it's 50% shite yet I feel compelled to watch.

All the rich Chelsea types
The impossible romance between the aide and the PM
That kid falling in love and re-enacting the scene from the Titanic
The smug surprise rendition of "all you need is love" at the wedding.

It's all so impossibly smug.....AND it has Keira Knightley doing her usual jaw jutting stuff. It DOES have some nice stuff in there which is why I watch but half the stories make me want to put my foot through then screen.

If it wasn't for the Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and the American woman story it would be unredeemable.

The rest are smug smug smug

Yep am being unreasonable but don't care.

Ok I have watched it too many times but here goes:

Colin does land at Marseille, but yes she is Portugese. I'm assuming they are economic immigrants, as Portugese tend to be the largest growing immigrant groups in a lot of European countries.

The school concerts are merged, the headmaster says this at the beginning of the concert, also Hugh the pm does tell Martine that his sis-in-law lives in Wandsworth. There are some very nice parts of Wandsworth.

Although it makes me laugh when Keira says 'Bingo' like the queen at Mecca. absolutely cracking up at this. I'd have totally tipped that banofee pie over her mush.

DH is from Marseille, and I've spent a lot of time there, but I have NEVER EVER seen a Portugese person. I am now bothered and will ask him about the proportion of Portugese people living in Marseille.

He will be mightily confused.

I'm now also going to retract the thing about the poster guy - I realised I like that when I was about 20. It's time to move on.

There's a chart on wikipedia about how they're all connected, which is bizarrely in French.

Portugese are becoming the second biggest immigrant group in Switzerland. But you never ever notice them. They blend very easily with local communities apparently.

Yes but did Alan Rickman shag the secretary, and at the end are he and Ems back together or is she at the airport for the sake of the kids...?

That's the bit I never get!

The secretary actress used to be married to Daniel Craig if I recall rightly.

On the DVD cover in the UK its Martine McCutcheons face but in Europe its the slutty PA.

Here is the best bit

I love this film. But only because I fancy Alan Rickman, Liam Neeson and Andrew Lincoln...

Binfull I'd say yes, shagged - she's getting out of a messy bed to put the necklace on that she has just received.
And as she says "welcome home" at the airport, I'd say yes they're still together. Just that life is a little bit worse..

apparently there are around40/50k Portugese citizens living in Marseille.

So it is not entirely impossible.

I love it.

I think I'm one of the few that like the guy in love with his best friends wife. I fell for DH when we were both married. I ended things with my ex, ended my friendship with DH and moved to the other side of the planet. The line 'it's a self preservation thing' really gets me.

I think the genius is that most of us can relate to at least one of the characters.

It is the second worst film ever made. After pretty woman.

Keira knightly needs a slap with a wet fish for doing that with her jaw the whole time.

I don't she can help it, it's just her face.

OP, YABU, the whole film is utter gash.

We have liked it for a long time. Very little thinking involved, some humour, pretty faces, and a pinch of Xmas. It soaks up the gin on a quiet afternoon.

Bill thingy steals every scene for me.

It's my favourite film
My poor lovely dh watches it with me every christmas and cuddles me when I cry at the Emma Thompson bit, every time!

It only occurred to me watching it the other day, so Emma Thompson's character is the sister of both Hugh Grant the PM and the bloke whose wife has died - but there is no interaction between the two brothers? Even when Hugh Grant & Martine whatshername are snogging at the school play, the other brother is there but no reaction from him? And I don't think Hugh Grant is shown at the funeral either?

Or did I get it wrong? Someone pls explain!

Isn't Liam neeson her BIL?

It's lovely!!!

That's what I think.

Some like it,some don't. Like anything.

Ah that would make sense! I couldn't figure it out or figure out why it had never occurred to me before!

I thought ET and LN were just friends, how would he be her BIL?

I thought his dead wife was her sister. Perhaps not.

I always thought they were family because of the way they speak to each other, but if his dead wife was her sister she would also have been Hugh Grants sister and he isn't at the funeral