... referred to in a post last night was Love Actually, which turned out to be less of a trifle than I anticipated and, while overall pretty good, tried to do a little too much and left a few threads hanging in the process. The film weaves together a number of love stories and takes place in the weeks before Christmas.
Hugh Grant - who was my principal reason for renting it - was his usual insouciant self as the British prime minister (but the scene where he publicly break with U.S. President Billy Bob Thornton was embarrassing, a painful reminder that most of the people who make movies haven;t a clue as to how politics actually works). In fact, the film would have been better if the Hugh Grant character had been eliminated.
But the Laura Linney character's problems with her mentally ill brother are left unresolved, as are Alan Rickman's and Emma Thompson's (did Rickman actually have an affair with his lovely young assistant or did her jsut give her the necklace as a startup? Beats me).
A perfectly example of a film that could have used a ruthless editor.
You like Hugh Grant, Frank? I can't get passed the smugness he always evinces in interviews, the fact that he really only plays one character (the loveable, stumbley, yet charming, Brit), and that whole Amber Brown thing from years ago.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do like Hugh Grant, and for precisely the reasons you cite. He is so bracingly shallow! And there is so much to be said on behalf of shallowness that I have thought of writing an essay enumerating its advantages - not the least of which is not taking very much too seriously. Actually, I think Grant could do a nice turn playing aginst type if he so chose, and I think he would prove very good in the right high comedy vehicle. I think Oxford should be proud of him.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about "Love, Actually" is the incomparable BILL NIGHY! 'Twas he who played aging rocker Billy Mack and delivered all the best (I mean *funniest*) lines.
ReplyDeleteNighy became a known quantity in America after that, but he's been a distinguished actor in Britain for decades.
Especially in plays by David Hare: Catch him on Broadway this fall in Hare's "The Vertical Hour."
Bill Nighy gets my vote as best living actor working in English and, by the way, his last name rhymes with "High." See, now you're in the know....