A few weeks ago mom & I were watching HGTV as usual. She nodded off leaving me with an uninteresting Flip or Flop and the controller in my hand. I surfed the guide and found that Love Actually was just starting. Quietly, sneakily, guiltily I switched the channel and settled in to enjoy one of my favorite repeat viewing movies. About 15 minutes in, mom woke up, looked blearily at the TV, and said, “Really, Love Actually.” She got up and headed upstairs for her bath. As she left, I thought, “Yes actually, Love Actually.” So why does LA rank up there with Forrest Gump and That Thing You Do as movies that I will sit and watch no many how many times I have seen it. There are a bunch of reasons and a host of levels. Woody Allen ended his biggest movie, Annie Hall, with a musing around a joke. A man went to a psychiatrist and said doc, my brother thinks he’s a chicken. The psychiatrist says, why don’t you have him committed. The guy says, well we need the eggs. Woody then says that is how he feels about relationships, they are crazy and make no sense, but, when you come to it, we all need the eggs.
Through its many stories and ensemble cast LA asks and answers the question that love, actually…is everywhere. The crime author is cuckholded by his brother and becomes the reviled Uncle Jamie, but finds unexpected love with a housekeeper that he cannot communicate with. A young man is desperately in love with the newlywed wife of his best friend and copes by acting unfriendly toward her until she figures him out. A married couple who live a quiet life (but wait the wife is the sister of the prime minister), are challenged by the attentions of an attractive and predatory young employee. The bumbling husband falls prey. The young boy, who has lost his mother, experiences the perils of first love. Perhaps most poignant of all is the story of the woman who is hot for a co-worker but eventually comes to terms with the fact that she is committed to her troubled and institutionalized brother and finds the love there that matters most. The stories range from vacuous (Colin finding sexy babes in the US) to the sad (the despair of the married woman discovering that the expensive jewelry was for someone else) but love prevails. The only character that does not find love in the end is the evil secretary and we are just fine with that. Oh yeah, and the fat Portuguese sister.
For dad and the Macrander kids LA has become our own family Rocky Horror during which we can act out parts and join in the fun on the screen, zipping our sweaters and yelling, “I hate Uncle Jamie.” We know that Kira Knightley’s character has terrible taste in pies, that the video needs a bit of editing (thumb and finger held a bit apart), and that the Prime Minister’s bodyguard has an incredible singing voice. London, where we spent part of our one and only European vacation, is a co-star of the movie. We have walked across the pedestrian bridge and cruised along the Thames. So, there is family fun to be had when watching together, or remembered when watching solo.
Most of the acting is puffy mail in, but there are a few gems. When Kira finally figures out that the photographer actually loves her, the slow turn of her expression is masterful. The performance of the young singer, tears the house down. Some of these can only be appreciated through repeated viewing when you know what is coming and can watch it unfold.
So, maybe this makes me a sappy girlie man, or a sad idealist seeking reaffirmation. But, it is hard for the romantics among us to watch LA and not be warmed by the victory of love…..actually.