Love Actually - ACE Train Movie Review

Love Actually involves more than a dozen main characters, each weaving his or her way into another's heart over the course of one particularly eventful Christmas. The seemingly perfect wedding of Juliet and Peter brings many of the principals together, including heartsick best man Mark, who harbors a very unrequited crush on Juliet. There's also recent widower Daniel, trying to help his lonely stepson Sam express his true feelings to a classmate. Across town, devoted working mother Karen tries to rekindle the passion of her husband, Harry, who secretly pines for a young colleague of his. In the same office, the lonely Sarah not-so-secretly pines for a man just a few desks away, who returns her affections but may not be able to dissuade her neuroses. Providing the unofficial soundtrack for all of the couples is an aging rocker who just wants to cash in and get laid - but even he might find a meaningful relationship in the most unlikely of places.

Talk about a romantic comedy, this is definitely one to check out if you like that sort of thing. From start to finish, it's nothing but what you would expect from a typical romantic comedy - lots of romance mixed with humor. There are no plot twists or much action. It's completely straightforward and you can figure out the end in the first 15 minutes. For this type of film, there are way too many characters and it is way too long (probably because there are way too many characters to give screen time). If you cut the cast in half and only told half of their stories, the film could have been shortened by 45 minutes and it might have been bearable. Let me be clear, it wasn't a bad film, just a bit over the top and way too sweet and predictable for my taste.

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Billy Bob Thornton

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.