In defence of festive favourite ‘Love Actually’
▶ As Christmas draws near, Gemma White makes a case for the popular, but often-criticised, British romcom
Oh, so you don’t like Love Actually? You think it’s cheesy and basic, you think its narrow focus on the lives of the (predominantly) white, rich, middle class fails to represent modern Britain, and you do an actual full-body clench when Keira Knightley says: “I look quite pretty”?
OK, look, I can’t fight you on the last two points, but as far as the cheesy and basic accusations go, to quote Mindy Kaling in The Office: “I have a question – how dare you?”
So, I’m taking this moment to hold aloft my cup of marshmallow-topped hot chocolate and declare loudly and proudly: I love Love Actually!
I start watching it around mid-November when the first batch of Christmas presents requires wrapping and I need something on the television that sets the festive mood and does not require my undivided attention.
Make no mistake, this is not the time to have anything directed by Stanley Kubrick or Christopher Nolan on in the background.
As I cut reindeer-embossed wrapping paper and try to find the end of the Sellotape, I find it comforting to know that Jamie will eventually get with Aurelia, Billy Mack will beat Blue to the No 1 spot and Colin will find one or four American women who appreciate his “cute British accent”.
Like pulling on an old, soft, chunky knit sweater, I can rest cosily and easily knowing that there are no jump scares, no prolonged shoot-outs, and that absolutely no one gets horribly maimed or killed (although I do worry about the occupants of the car Colin Firth crashes into).
Love Actually has been a Christmas staple in my house since its release in 2003. Ah, 17 years ago, when people still visited department stores to buy gifts, and worked side-by-side in offices. When they attended (or starred in) school plays featuring child singing prodigies, and flew to Wisconsin in approximately 45 seconds.
Does Love Actually have its problems? Of course, it does. For instance, the lack of ethnic diversity in the cast is appalling and in no way represents London or the UK.
For that should we blame writer, Richard Curtis, who also penned the overwhelmingly white and popular films Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary?
Lulu Popplewell, the actress who played Daisy the Nativity lobster, and is now 29, has her own issues with the film. Describing it as “cheesy and sexist”, she recently told the Almost Famous podcast: “I think it’s aged badly. All the women in it are sort of passive objects. On re-watching, it’s not great.”
And to this list of accusations I would add: Men not WhatsApping to say: “Hey, don’t worry about your brother phoning in the middle of our date, let’s go out next Thursday instead.”
Yes, I’m looking at you, Karl! But, for me, these things fade into insignificance as Bill Nighy’s ageing rock star Billy Mack drawls: “Yes, it is, Ant or Dec”, because he can’t be bothered to tell the British TV presenting duo apart.
Or when Emma Thompson straightens the duvet cover as a way of pulling herself together, because although her husband ruined Christmas for her, she does not want to spoil it for the children. Or when Hugh Grant tells a certain president exactly what he should be prepared for because, I mean, come on, who did not want Tony Blair to do the same at the time?
And those are the reasons why, if I ever get gloomy about the state of the world, I watch Love Actually.
Like pulling on an old, soft, chunky knit sweater, I can rest cosily and easily knowing that there are no jump scares and that no one gets killed