"Love Actually": Great London Scenery
 

JUst saw the movie, and it was wonderful! Made me want to return to London very soon. Highly recommend it. FYI, Judy :-0

Right on, Judy! The movie is fantastic, funny, touching, a must see! Best London scenery I've seen in a recent movie! ((Y))

I liked it too, although it could have been edited down from the 2 hr 10 min runtime.

I agree it will give London/Britain lovers a good boost but there actually weren't that many exterior shots. There were maybe 6 or so brief city skyline/river shots and the street shot when Hugh was looking for Natalie's house. Aside from that and the French house location and the airport at the end, it was largely sound stage.

Fans of British ensemble films like Bridget Jones, Notting Hill and About A Boy will most likely like this one too. It's a heavy-duty ensemble with about 10 (@ 20 roles) story lines intertwining.

The premise/theme that love is actually all around us - it's just a matter of how we perceive it - was quite nice.

I think Liam Neeson, the adorable kid who played his stepson, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney and Hugh Grant were the standouts.

There were lot of parts however that seemed a bit unbelievable,,,where was the PMs security detail? "Why couldn't Laura Linney turn off her cell phone", I heard one guy say in the theater? Besides those inconsistencies(and others),I adored the movie. I wish Hollywood could give us more of the same! Judy :-) PS still want to go back to London, preferably at Christmas!

alternative opinion:
I went eagerly because of the cast, and was disappointed. I'm a sucker for a romantic comedy, even a romantic fantasy, as much as the next person, but I didn't buy any of the movie for a second. I thought everyone seemed to be phoning in their performances, except for Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, and Alan Rickman (the swine!)

I felt all concerned were trying to recapture the magic (and the boxoffice receipts) of "Four Weddings..." and "Bridget Jones..." but it didn't work for me.

I absolutely loved it &amp; so did my husband. Yes it's a bit soppy and there are parts that just don't ring true, but who cares. It's a <i>movie</i>. Haven't seen such a &quot;feel good&quot; romp in <b>ages</b>. I agree with Judyrem-Hollywood take note!

Oh, come on...I think the story lines ended where they should have. It shows that not always all in live (and love) gets tied up or resolved. Now, (for those who saw the movie) you can't tell me that that Emma Thompson was not brilliant in that scene (...you know the one I am talking about). The recent movies have been pure garbage; this is the best movie I have seen in 2003. The dialogue scenes between Colin Firth and the Portuguese woman are priceless! ((Y)).

I think the show-stealer here was Sam, the little boy. He had me in tears about 3 times. I had high hopes given the ensemble cast, but wasn't completely satisfied with the movie. It was a good &quot;feel good&quot; movie, but I think I was hoping for better.

Yay for Martin Freeman (aka Tim on The Office) that was a delicious surprise for me...I had no idea he was in it.

I also loved the reference in the movie to banoffee pie - my favorite food discovery on our recent trip to London!

For me, this movie is/was the movie of the century. Maybe even the current century and the past century combined.

Surprised to see anyone excited about it for travel scenery, but if you thought you got a bonus from that, well okay, more power to you.

Turn her cell phone off? Did you really not get it? She LOVES her brother. There are plenty of people who persistently love those who would harm them, even violently. It is often not logical. Love is often not logical.

If you have not seen this wonderful film... well, then, today would be a good day.

Best wishes,

Rex

Wow, I am certainly a minority of one so far. I really do wish I had liked it as much as the rest of you because I was looking forward to seeing that cast.

Where is Wandsworth, by the way?
Is some of it &quot;dodgy&quot;?

Topic should have said: Love Actually: Great movie with some wonderful London Scenery. I cried at Liam Neeson's wife's funeral. When they started playing &quot;Bye bye baby, baby goodbye&quot;, I just lost it. I want that kind of send off when I die. I also liked the dialogue between Colin Firth with his Portuguese housekeeper. I also found that it was very easy to slip from segment to segment, I cared about all the characters right away (except for Alan Rickman's secretary ;-) ). Judy

I heard an absolutely wonderful interview with the director (Scott Simon) and excerpts from the movie. Can't wait to see it. He was asked HOW he got that incredible cast and he said it was filmed according to their different schedules. When they were available they filmed their scenes. And Scott Simon opined that Hugh Grant could read the phone book and it would break him up.

&quot;movie of the century?&quot; rex? you must be kidding. this is the lightest piece of fluff I've seen in years. i thought it was just like a tv sitcom. sure some funny scenes, but the movie of the century?

Elaine, here's what I know about Wandsworth. It's south London-south side of the Thames. You get there over Wandsworth Bridge. Wandsworth Bridge Road has some great antique shops but mostly big pieces like furniture. Wandsworth prison is there-the main prison for Surrey &amp; south London.

The area, like many here &amp; in London, has slowly been gentrified from a working class area to an artier area. A number of film &amp; photo studios have opened there (like LI City). There are some good restaurants-some ethnic-. I think the end closest to the Thames is more gentrified while the southern end is the &quot;dodgier&quot; area but not positive of this. We had friends with a home there, just over the bridge. They sold it a few years ago for quite a profit.

It is out on video/dvd as of Tuesday. While not a lot of London scenery, it certainly makes me want to be there again--just hearing the accents. I loved this movie and watched it 2 times on my return trip from Paris last month. I was so eager for my husband to see it. I wasn't disappointed; he loved it, too.

I loved the movie and ran to the store this past Tuesday to get a copy. The only story that I thought was unbelievable is the guy who goes to Wisconsin, but it was silly and fun, so big deal.

The movie makes me smile! The DVD has some scenes which were cut out of the movie, I think some of those scenes are priceless, and I will probably watch them quite a few more times. Hey, any movie that makes me smile without my even realizing it, is priceless for me.

Like Marty I watched the film two and a half times on my flight home, from London. I teared up at the wedding as the band grew, I cried when the aged rocker realized who the love of his life was (the most enternaining story line). I'm not a movie goer so, if not for the flight, I would have missed this one until it turns up on network TV. It was a cute movie. As mentioned above, you won't see much London in the film, watch Keen Eddie on Bravo to see more of the city.

Or better yet, jet over to experience it in person.

Was anyone the tiniest bit annoyed by the way the President of the US was portrayed - by Billy Bob! no less!
I have to agree with earl, this was the fluffiest of fluffs.
But then, I am one of the few who did not think much of Under the Tuscan Sun .. I love London and I loved Four Weddings and I loved Bridget Jones, but this was really thin stuff.

I'm with the &quot;I loved it&quot; contingent! I thought it was a really great &quot;feel good&quot; movie, which we certainly need these days. And the cast was terrific.And as for Laura Linney not turning off her cellphone, well, if you had any mentally ill person in your family (and you were all that he had), then you might understand!

I bet one story line was deleted from the movie for the airplane version..the &quot;stand-in&quot; couple. :)

As far as the President, come on, it was light hearted, and obviously a caricature of Bill Clinton.

The cell phone, duh..people, of course, she couldn't turn it off, it's not like it was just friends calling to chat!

&quot;Was anyone the tiniest bit annoyed by the way the President of the US was portrayed - by Billy Bob! no less!&quot;

Uh, no. Should I have been? Mr. Thornton was just an actor playing a role in a fictional movie. His small role, little more than a cameo, was obviously devised to be a melding of horn-dog Clinton and war-hawk Bush II.

I guess I will put a vote in for the minority opinion. I have loved the &quot;other British&quot; films - Four Weddings, Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, but Love Actually - NO!

I wanted to love it, but it wasn't interesting to me.

On the other hand, I loved Under the Tuscan Sun.

Oh well.

Intereesting to see people's opinions. I'm in the &quot;loved it&quot; group - as evidenced by the fact I'm about to see it for the third time (and I'm one who can never understand people like my husband who see movies - like Lord of the Rings - over and over and over). It's interesting that some people disliked it because it was &quot;fluff&quot; but liked under the Tuscan Sun. I liked the scenery in Tuscan Sun but though the movie overall was way too much &quot;fluff&quot;. While the scenery in Love Actually was only fleeting, it did have such a British flavor that I found myself missing London. That, the music and the actors made it definitly worth watching at least a couople of times.

Lyb: The &quot;stand in&quot; couple was definitely in the airplane version. The music was all so well chosen for the scenes, but Norah Jones' &quot;Turn Me On&quot; for Laura Linney's dance scene, and Joni Mitchell's bluesy version of &quot;Both Sides Now&quot; for Emma Thompson's heartbreaker scene were so perfect, I came right home and bought both cd's.

I saw it on a plane, too--the stand-in couple (and they actually did some of their work standing, didn't they?) was not edited out.

I thought it was a contrived bit of fluff--and loved it nonetheless. Fabulous cast, even if they weren't all up to snuff, and I went all teary more times than I'm willing to say.

Watched it twice, actually.

Wow, I'm amazed that the airplane version had the story of the stand-in couple. I thought it was harmless and funny, but I can certainly see many people feeling uncomfortable with it and what about the children in the plane. It's an R rated movie, so I am surprised...oh, well....

By the way, I bought the CD the day after I saw the movie, and have played it and played it and played it....

Just saw this now. We saw it again on the Autotrain to FL, and the stand in scenes were edited too! I thouhgt it was kind of silly that they edited it out. They were a cute couple IMO. My husband's Fav couple was Colin Firth and his housekeeper. My fave was Kyra Knightley? wannnabe boyfriend. He was SOOOOO hot and tres romantic, that I could have swooned when he was on screen! Not great cinema, but entertaining nonetheless. BTW, liked Laws of Attraction too. Had Some nice Ireland scenery. And liked both leads a lot.

oops goofed! Meant to say: just saw this thread now.

lyb: Did you know the UK version of the soundtrack has more songs on it? I think I saw this on Amazon.

No, I didn't know about the soundtrack difference between the UK &amp; the US, well...since I will be in London this September, I might have to check that out.... thanks