Comedian's brief breakdown of the love story plots in 'Love Actually' has people rolling
Are any of these storylines actually romantic?
This scene is romantic if you don't look at it too hard.
Love Actually has become a holiday classic in many homes across the U.S. for over two decades, and the film always prompts a range of reactions. Some celebrate it as a sweet, fun romantic comedy, while some loathe it as unrealistic and dumb. Some simply can't get past Alan Rickman's character's betrayal of Emma Thompson's character, while others watch it just for the iconic Joni Mitchell scene. But one thing most of us agree on is that the love stories in the film are…um, less than perfect.
Comedian George Lewis highlighted the film's strange love stories with a series of brief synopses, and when you see them all laid out this way, it's pretty wild. Some might even say it's disturbing how the plotlines range from obviously problematic to downright pathological, and yet people love the movie anyway.
"Oh, this film's so romantic," Lewis begins. "Oh, the Prime Minister's trying to sleep with one of the women who works for him after calling her fat."
Ah, yes, Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister gets all googly for a junior staffer whom he said weighed a lot, while other characters described her as chubby or plumpy or having "thighs like tree trunks," even though she was not actually overweight.
Lewis continues, "Oh, the writer's trying to sleep with the woman he's hired to cook for him, even though they've never had a conversation."
Yep, the Colin Firth storyline with the Italian woman who works for him while he's on a writer's retreat. They learned just enough of each other's language to confess their love for one another, despite never having had any other actual conversation, and this was seen as peak romance.
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"Oh look, she's trying to sleep with her boss, and he likes it, so he's going to be nicer to her than to his own wife," Lewis went on, "because she's younger."
This was the infamous Alan Rickman character flirting with cheating, leading to an Oscar-worthy performance from his on-screen wife, Emma Thompson, when she realizes the necklace she'd found in his pocket wasn't for her. Heartbreaking. People still can't forgive Rickman for what he did to his wonderful wife in the film.
"Oh, even though he's barely spoken to his best friend's wife, he's telling her that he loves her, while his friend's only meters away, and she's only about seventeen."
The oft-mocked scene of Andrew Lincoln holding up a series of placards confessing his love for his best friend's wife, Keira Knightley (who really was 17 when the movie was filmed), would theoretically be one of the most romantic of the whole film if it weren't for how utterly weird it is. Sure, he just needed to get his feelings off his chest so that he could move on, we're led to believe. But the way he does it, with his friend right there in the next room, is so bizarro. And Keira Knightley's character finds it sweet and then kisses him? Hoo boy.
And that's just a few of the love stories that Love Actually laid out for us. Some people responded to the video, saying they have always hated the film. Others defended the film, despite its obvious flaws.
"The movie has flawed characters, but it also makes me laugh and cry. There’s a lot of humanity in it, and people are complicated. As a feminist, I can identify why Love Actually is problematic, but as a flawed human, I will never stop loving this movie."
"So tired of people pretending relationships are clean and pretty and always politically correct. This movie shows messy real-life relationships. I love it."
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"Is this movie problematic? Yes. Do I love it and watch it every year? Also, Yes."
"I actually love Love Actually despite all the (deserved) hate it gets. I’m flawed and sentimental."
"Will forgive it forever not least because of the closing sequence…it’s funny to read the take downs of it, they are an accurate and witty perspective.. and I think it’s still ok to love the movie for all its quirks and faults and its occasional brilliance- Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Mark Addy, Hugh Grants PM taking down the US president ( we wish!!!) - at its heart it’s a quintessential British film full of warmth, humour and contradiction!"
And that's really the crux of it, isn't it? Are these good examples of healthy relationships? Absolutely not. As licensed therapist Jonathan Decker said on Cinema Therapy, "'Love Actually treats infatuation as love," and, "In many ways, Love Actually in many ways is a movie in love with the idea of love." That sounds about right. But kudos to the filmmakers for managing to give us all the warm, cozy holiday rom-com feels while also offering a series of disturbing love stories. It's quite a feat, really.