A form of emotional hardcore.
Love Actually (2003)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:180
Fresh:114
Rotten:66
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: A sugary tale overstuffed with too many stories. Still, the cast charms.
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed – but I don’t see that – seems to me that love is everywhere. Igniting laughter, wreaking havoc, breaking... General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed – but I don’t see that – seems to me that love is everywhere. Igniting laughter, wreaking havoc, breaking hearts, daring commitments, forcing choices, catapulting spirits, forging inroads, creating risks—ecstatic, exciting, unexpected, unwelcome, inconvenient, inexplicable, inelegant, unequalled. Love actually is all around. From the new bachelor Prime Minister (HUGH GRANT) instantly falling in love with a refreshingly real member of the staff (MARTINE McCUTCHEON) moments after entering 10 Downing Street… To a writer (COLIN FIRTH) escaping to the south of France to nurse his re-broken heart who finds love in a lake… From a comfortably married woman (EMMA THOMPSON) suspecting that her husband (ALAN RICKMAN) is slipping away… To a new bride (KEIRA KNIGHTLEY) mistaking the distance of her husband’s best friend for something it’s not… From a schoolboy seeking to win the attention of the most unattainable girl in school… To a widowed stepfather (LIAM NEESON) trying to connect with a son he suddenly barely knows… From a lovelorn junior manager (LAURA LINNEY) seizing a chance with her long-tended, unspoken office crush… To an aging “seen it all, remember very little of it” rock star (BILL NIGHY) jonesing for an end-of-career comeback in his own uncompromising way… Love, the equal-opportunity mischief-maker, is causing chaos for all. These London lives and loves collide, mingle and climax on Christmas Eve—again and again and again—with romantic, hilarious and bittersweet consequences for anyone lucky (or unlucky) enough to be under love’s spell. Acclaimed screenwriter RICHARD CURTIS (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary) now steps behind the camera for his directorial debut on his latest project, Love Actually—the ultimate romantic comedy that weaves together a spectacular number of love affairs into one amazing story. Curtis is re-teamed with producers DUNCAN KENWORTHY and Working Title’s TIM BEVAN and ERIC FELLNER—the filmmakers responsible for some of the most popular looks at modern love in all its guises, including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary. The powerhouse cast brought together for this look at love and laughter also includes ROWAN ATKINSON, ANDREW LINCOLN, MARTIN FREEMAN, KRIS MARSHALL, THOMAS SANGSTER, JOANNA PAGE, LUCIA MONIZ, BILLY BOB THORNTON and many others. Joining Curtis and producers Kenworthy, Bevan and Fellner are an esteemed group of behind-the-camera talent, including director of photography MICHAEL COULTER, B.S.C. (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Sense and Sensibility), production designer JIM CLAY (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin), editor NICK MOORE (Notting Hill, The Full Monty, About a Boy), costumer JOANNA JOHNSTON (The Sixth Sense, Contact), composer CRAIG ARMSTRONG (William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, The Quiet American) and casting director MARY SELWAY, C.D.G. (Notting Hill, Gosford Park). [More]
Starring: Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley
Starring: Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Rowan Atkinson, Martine McCutcheon, Shannon Elizabeth
Director: Richard Curtis
Director: Richard Curtis
Screenwriter: Richard Curtis
Producer: Duncan Kenworthy, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner
Composer: Craig Armstrong
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Love Actually
Love Actually is not so much great as it is so blissfully, swooningly romantic that it's rendered irresistible.
It's no hardship whatsoever to sit through Love Actually ... But if Curtis could have sharpened his focus, and trusted his actors a bit more, Love Actually could have been splendid.
An audience-pleaser, but very calculated and far from Curtis' best work.
Love Actually , Curtis' holiday-themed directing debut, abandons any pretext of sophistication for gloppy sentimentality, sugary pop songs and bawdy humor -- an approach that works about half the time.
A good movie, but it could have been a great one...tries so hard to be a grand ensemble that it loses focus and settles for some easy laughs...And not enough of my man Hugh.
The performances are tokens of charm, attitude, Brit schtick, and the writer achieves the structure of confetti.
Call me Scrooge, but I sincerely hope that this film does not become a Christmas perennial.
All too rare is the holiday film that not only makes you feel good, but also is good. Love Actually works.
Only the most hard-hearted and cynical won't find something endearing in Love Actually.
The only time [the movie] doesn't stink is when it's candidly admitting that it stinks.
It's too busy with too many stories to tell. But there's so much heart and silly fun and genuine sentiment here, delivered by an A-list of Brit and American talent that it's hard to fault.
This movie is so unfunny, uninspired and unoriginal I swear it could have started out as a club-footed Coen Brothers vehicle for George Clooney.
Finally, a delightful piece of Christmas fluff to chase away visions of chainsaw-wielding serial killers.
[Curtis] is nothing if not capable of creating merry, madcap romantic comedy, and he punctuates the purposely hackneyed developments and labyrinthian structure with sly wit and sprightly pacing.
There's so much plot being thrown at us in Love Actually that there's little room for genuine emotion; the film is as superficial as a Jay Leno monologue.
A totally bewitching comedy that has as much to say to the intellect as it does to the heart.
Latest News for Love Actually
September 07, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis has a plan. "What I've decided is to choose recent films," he explains to RT. "I do think that often people get stuck in always saying the five greatest films of... More...
April 02, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Bill Nighy
There can be few actors better suited to starring in a film about the golden age of British rock and roll than Bill Nighy. No wonder, then, that he's front and centre as part of... More...
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 67% 67% | Public Enemies |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 95% 95% | The Cove |
| 85% 85% | World's Greatest Dad |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Love Actually at Rotten Tomatoes
- Love Actually at IGN
- Love Actually at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.





