Dirk V
Reviewer

     Sentimental overload. Those are the first words that come to mind after viewing the new English romantic comedy “Love Actually.”
 
     The film occurs over the weeks preceding Christmas. With positive, happy Christmas themes running through the film, it follows the relationships of a wide segment of society from the newly elected Prime Minster to porno actors. Nearly all of the relationships follow the same formula in the film: an introductory or happy period, a troubled period, and a resolution, which is usually happy—there were two that did not end happily, but they did come to a resolution. Many of the relationships deal with overcoming the difficulties of initiating a romance. However, one deals with cheating and two others with overcoming feelings for a person because they cannot be together.
 
     While the film is not entirely sentimental, the ending of the film cannot help but make you feel a bit nauseous. All of the main characters are in the airport waiting for their loved ones to disembark a plane. Each one is embraced to the sounds of sentimental holiday music, and then the screen is overtaken by hundreds of pictures of people hugging. This ending is just too much, even for those accustomed to sappy films.
 
     Even with all of the schmaltz, the rest of the film is still entertaining. There are plenty of humorous moments in the film, especially Bill Nighy’s character’s attempts to regain his faded pop star glory. It is also interesting to watch the various relationships develop.
 
     The biggest problem with the film, however, is the number of plot lines the story attempts to follow. There are at least eight relationships followed in the film. While attempting to follow them all, some are hardly developed, while others are developed and then seemingly forgotten until the end. Fragmented story telling can be an entertaining way to tell a story as long as the stories are developed. In “Love Actually,” however, the stories are not fully developed.
 
     By attempting to follow too many story lines, “Love Actually” does not give its talented cast an opportunity to give great performances. The cast is loaded with talented actors such as Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Keira Knightly and Rowan Atkinson. However, none of them has enough screen time to give a truly great performance. Each one gives a good performance, but none of them stands out.
 
     “Love Actually” is an amusing romantic comedy that will provide laughs, but only if you can stomach the overwhelming sentimentality at the end of the film.