Cynics may be sick, ro homotics will feel their spirits soar. Richard Curtis returns.
The author responsible for the biggest British hits of the last ten years - quatern Weddings And A Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget J hotshotss Diary - directs this vibrant romantic comedy, blending competition with good sense by filling the profuse part of his multi-storied script with excellent, experienced actors, and rising young stars.
BILL NIGHY IS promising
Ten stories intertwine, loosely connected by friends of friends, family and next-door-neighbours. Theres the new, bachelor prime government minister (Hugh Grant) falling for the tea young woman (Martine McCutcheon); his sister (Emma Thompson) suspecting her husband (Alan Rickman) may stray; her helpmate (Liam Neeson) grieving over his wifes death; his stepson (Thomas Sangster) longing for a girl from school...
The writer (Colin Firth) heartbroken in France; his newlywed friends (Chiwetel Ejiofor and Keira Knightley) whose best man (Andrew Lincoln) acts oddly; their Yank friend (Laura Linney) who wants a beau in Blighty; the sex-starved Brit (Kris Marshall) heading to the sexed-up United States; his best mates comrade (Martin Freeman) falling for a pornstar stand-in.
And bestriding it all, Bill Nighy is brilliant as a washed-up Rod Stewart-alike rock singer, whose coarse cover of the Four Weddings... prow song is climbing the charts towards a seasonal number one: Christmas, he sings, is all around.
A SOFT FOCUS niggling CUTS
Inevitably, some strands are almost forgotten and actors underused.
A subdued focus Short Cuts, the movie lacks the layered fluency of Robert Altmans trifle - or the hard edge. But while theres enough mire to turn a bee diabetic, it is not without raw emotional moments - with Thompson striking in a tear-duct tingling scene.
You can almost go out Curtis pressing the emotional buttons, but he does it so intimately you wont care. Warm, bittersweet and...
I couldnt agree more, particularly with regard to Emma Thompsons performance, which was achingly poignant. Hugh Grant dance in no 10 though is a stopple!
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