I watched Love Actually for the primary time as an grownup — assessment | Films | Entertainment | EUROtoday

Growing up, I cherished watching Christmas motion pictures; they’re crammed with festive magic, a loving sense of household and neighborhood, and hope or redemption. They might be romantic, comedic, or action-based, however it doesn’t matter what, the ending left you feeling heat and vigorous. As a mid-20-year-old who’s briskly approaching their 30s, I refuse to let bleak maturity take away my rose-tinted glasses for Christmas movies.

However, I not too long ago watched a traditional Christmas movie for the primary time as an grownup, and I’ll have begun dropping my festive spirit. After 10 years, I witnessed the toxicity in Love Actually (2003) and have concluded, that is the worst Christmas movie of all time. Below, I am going into element about why I feel this film sucks.

Toxic relationships we’re supposed to accept

My main gripe with this movie is the amount of cheating that occurs, and we’re supposed to just accept it because “it’s Christmas.” The main cheating scandal occurs between Harry (played by Alan Rickman), who cheats on his wife, Karen (Emma Thompson), with his younger coworker.

Harry is seen flirting with the “other woman” and even has the audacity to dance with her at his office Christmas party in front of his wife. He then buys her a necklace while the mother of his children gets a CD! Emma then just sucks it up despite her knowledge of the necklace because of her children.

This scene is not what I despise; it is totally valid that Karen did not want to ruin Christmas for her children, and most people initially deal with heartbreak by ignoring (denial) their pain.

According to The Telegraph, who interviewed Emma Thompson, she shared: “That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it’s one thing everybody’s been by way of. I had my coronary heart very badly damaged by Ken (her then-husband). So I knew what it was like to seek out the necklace that wasn’t meant for me. Well, it wasn’t precisely that, however we’ve all been by way of it.”

However, when she confronts him, all he can say is “Oh, God. I am so in the wrong. The classic fool!” To which she replies, “Yes, but you’ve also made a fool out of me, and you’ve made the life I lead foolish, too!” And then they simply return to enjoying comfortable households?

At the top of the movie, they appeared collectivelyheading “home” from Heathrow Airport. According to Radio Times, Emma Freud, the spouse of the author and director of Love Actually, Richard Curtis, reveals that the pair stayed collectively.

On X, previously often called Twitter, somebody requested: “@emmafreud, can u please clarify the end result for Emma and Alan’s characters, or should I stay eternally confused? I by no means did work that one out!” Emma replied: “@JPerlstrom, they keep collectively, however house is not as comfortable because it as soon as was.”

Has the world gone mad? Why are we normalising dishonest? Harry each bodily and emotionally cheats on his spouse, and we’re simply meant to just accept it?

Another plot that grinds my gears is the love triangle between Juliet (performed by Keira Knightley), Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Mark (Andrew Lincoln). The couple, Juliet and Peter, are newlywedded, and Peter’s finest buddy, Mark, who is sort of chilly to Juliet, personally movies their wedding ceremony.

The skilled videographer’s footage is corrupted, and Juliet begs Mark to see what he captured. Caught in a lie, Mark is confronted by Juliet, who finds the recording. It is revealed that Mark solely filmed Juliet and never his finest buddy.

It could be very stunning however unusual. Mark then turns up at their home with flash playing cards, telling Juliet to deceive her husband and faux it is carol singers. The sequence then follows of Mark telling Juliet how a lot he truly likes her and that she is “perfect.”

It ends with Juliet chasing Mark down the road and kissing him. All the whereas, her husband is sitting at house, none the wiser and we’re simply supposed to just accept this as cute and endearing? This entire movie is poisonous!

Boring scenes

Despite the toxicity, there are some cute and wholesome pairings, however they’re awfully boring. One pairing responsible of that is John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page), who’re each skilled stand-ins who met whereas performing an intimate scene for a movie. Another is Colin’s (Kris Marshall) escapade to America, which is forgettable.

As a lot as I used to be rooting for Sarah (Laura Linney) and Karl (Rodrigo Santoro), I felt that the storyline was not given the possibility to become an essential and exquisite dialog, like among the different {couples}. Their relationship relatively fizzles out as an alternative of discussing points round psychological sickness.

I loved the humour artist Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) gave us, and it was good to see the significance of platonic relationships explored, however once more, I might have executed with out this plot level.

Nonetheless, the movie was saved by the romance between Jamie (Colin Firth) and Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz), David (Hugh Grant) and Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), and the paternal relationship of Daniel (Liam Neeson) and Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster).

To conclude, sure, Love Actually has some candy moments and might be extremely charming, however watching it again as an grownup, I want a few of these messages had been completely thought by way of. I’m afraid the spirit of Christmas or the truth that love is throughout couldn’t save me from disliking this film.