Love Actually - 9 stars out of 10

Love Actually - 9 stars out of 10

"Love Actually" is a great romantic movie whose concept of intertwining stories has often been imitated ("Valentine's Day", "New Year's Eve") but rarely executed with this much success.  It is a perfect blend of comedy, drama, cute moments, and valuable lessons.  These ten London love stories are separated enough that they are believable but related loosely enough that they can all believably culminate in the end.  This film is unique because each love story displays a different side of love.  Whether it is love at first sight, an unspoken love from a distance, the love between a father and his son, the love for a departed spouse, lust over a younger woman, or a sister taking care of her sick brother, every facet of love is explored.  The ensemble cast was perfectly distributed.  Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Billy Nighy, Laura Linney, LIAM NEESON - need I say more?  Lúcia Moniz and Martine McCutcheon are the perfect love interests (and make it easy to pick my two favorite love stories), while Rowan Atkinson is the perfect comic relief in a cameo that brilliantly suits his personality.  Meanwhile, Emma Thompson taps into an emotional side beyond any of the other all stars.  "Love Actually" has those moments that you'll never forget, like when Andrew Lincoln shows Keira Knightley the wedding video or silently explains everything with his signs and when everything works out to the Beach Boy's "God Only Knows," you will surely have chills (and maybe a few tears of happiness).  I love that the film's opening narrative about seeing love in an airport terminal becomes unexpectedly significant at the end in an "Oh yeah!!!!" sort of way.  The film has some trashy stuff (nudity and some f-words) but if you can get past those, this will become a great "watch whenever I'm lonely" movie.