Love Actually Family Review

Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.Against the backdrop of aged has-been rock star Billy Mack's (Bill Nighy's) Christmas themed comeback cover of "Love Is All Around", which he knows is crap and makes no bones about it, much to his manager Joe's (Gregor Fisher's) chagrin as he promotes the record, several interrelated stories about romantic love and the obstacles to happiness through love for Londoners are presented in the five weeks preceding Christmas. Daniel's (Liam Neeson's) wife has just died, leaving him to take care of his adolescent stepson Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) by himself. Daniel is uncertain how to deal with Sam and his problems without his wife present, especially in light of a potential budding romance within their household. Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) have just gotten married. They believe that Peter's best friend and best man Mark (Andrew Lincoln) hates Juliet, but won't say so to his or her face. Others looking at the situation from the outside believe Mark is jealous of Juliet, as he is in love with Peter. Jamie (Colin Firth), a writer, is taking a writing retreat by himself in rural France following catching his latest girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) in an indiscretion. Jamie ends up spending much time in France with Aurelia (Lúcia Moniz), the Portuguese woman hired as the housekeeper. The question becomes not only if they can communicate their day-to-day needs with each other as she speaks no English, he speaks no Portuguese, and neither speaks French very well, but communicate what seems to be their increasing mutual attraction to each other. Sarah (Laura Linney) has been in love with her co-worker Karl (Rodrigo Santoro) for the two years they have worked together, this attraction about which everyone in their workplace knows. Sarah has to decide if she can be forward enough to express this love directly to Karl, especially in light of what has been her personal priority of dealing with a family issue. Harry (Alan Rickman) and Karen (Dame Emma Thompson) have been in a stable long term marriage. His new assistant Mia (Heike Makatsch) drops hints to him that she would like them to be romantically involved. Harry has to decide whether to fall to the temptation, especially considering being married to a perceptive wife. Single and relatively young David (Hugh Grant) is the newly elected Prime Minister. At 10 Downing Street, he is attracted to one of the new household servants, Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), but isn't sure what to do about it seeing as to their respective positions, the probable public scrutiny, and an incident involving the visiting U.S. President (Billy Bob Thornton). Socially unaware Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) believes that the lack of romantic love in his life is all the fault of standoffish British women. As such, he decides to take decisive albeit somewhat unusual geographic action. And John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) are movie body doubles. They can communicate with each other straightforwardly while they are simulating sex filming a movie, but they may not be able to translate the feelings behind that simulation in real-life to each other.—HuggoAs the throaty, erotic voice of the season's ultimate star and legendary rocker, Billy Mack, and his luscious Christmas take on the The Troggs' hit song, "Love Is All Around", peppers the already festive and romantic London, diverse facets of the all-powerful Eros intertwine. With only five full weeks until Christmas Eve, vibrant vignettes of Cupid's shenanigans unfold, as the stories of love-smitten boys; secret admirers; philandering husbands; heartbroken authors; widowed fathers, and the Yuletide plight of a desperate, lovesick British Prime Minister interweave, forming a magnificent panorama of love, and its many guises. But, love is omnipotent, love is forever, and love is above all. Why squander your dreams, afraid to move on, when, actually, all you need is Love?—Nick RiganasThe characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in the period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. At all ages and social levels, love is the theme. Romantic love and brotherly love is the hotchpotch through out the movie. Most of this movie was filmed in London during Christmas, and the characters all ended up at Heathrow airport on an uplifting note.—Rosemea D.S. MacPhersonLove is all around us, which that's certainly true for all of these people. John (Martin Freeman) and "Just Judy" (Joanna Page) have fallen in love with each other while on the set of an erotically charged film. David (Hugh Grant) has just become the new Prime Minister. The second he steps into his office/home, he is smitten with Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), his catering manager who had already screwed up at the first minute. David's sister is Karen (Dame Emma Thompson), married to Harry (Alan Rickman), who runs a local magazine. Harry is somewhat smitten by his secretary, Mia (Heike Makatsch), who is constantly hitting on him. Harry's best editor is Sarah (Laura Linney), having a mentally-ill brother and a not-so-hidden crush on Karl (Rodrigo Santoro), who has a thing for her as well. Karen is friends with both Daniel, who had just lost his wife and has discovered that his stepson is in love with a young American girl, and Jamie (Colin Firth), whose girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) has just left him for his younger and more attractive brother, forcing him to move to France to continue writing his novel while falling for Aurelia (Lúcia Moniz), a young Portuguese woman who can't speak a lick of English. Juliet (Keira Knightley) has just married Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor), not realizing that his best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) has loved her since they first met. Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) is desperate to have sex and believes that in order to do that, he should travel to Wisconsin because he thinks that American women will dig him for being British. And Billy Mack (Bill Nighy), an old rocker who is climbing back up the charts after battling his old heroin addiction, is on the radio and television shows either bad-mouthing his new CD, insulting his manager, Joe (Gregor Fisher), or a hot new boy band, or calling Britney Spears a "bad shag". Are you still following along?—Will1 moreAll