Love Actually (2003)

Comedy-drama written and directed by Richard Curtis. Utilising an all-star cast, it weaves together several narrative threads with a common theme of love set in the days leading up to Christmas. Some of them work better than others, but the problem with having so many stories running in parallel is that they all get merely superficial treatment. 

I would have liked more detail on the plots involving Colin Firth/Lúcia Moniz (couple fall in love but speak different languages), Hugh Grant/Martine McCutcheon (Prime Minister falls for junior member of staff) and Alan Rickman/Emma Thompson (married managing director is tempted by his secretary). The Bill Nighy story (past-his-prime rocker attempts comeback) is silly but occasionally amusing. However, the threads concerning Keira Knightley (new husband’s best friend is in love with her), Martin Freeman (acts in nude scenes with a girl but becomes paradoxically shy when asking her out) and Kris Marshall (goes to America to find a female who’ll sleep with him) could all have been ditched entirely to let the other parts breathe a little. 

The worst segments involve Liam Neeson’s precocious stepchild – a horribly self-conscious little know-all played by Thomas Sangster. This child is apparently unruffled by the recent death of his mother, but lectures his stepdad on the nature of relationships. There’s also a daft airport scene in which his antics would have probably got him shot by anti-terrorist security guards. 

It was also baffling that the same song (“Love Is All Around”) had to be revived from an earlier Richard Curtis film: Four Weddings and a Funeral. Maybe it was a self-referential joke, but couldn't they just have come up with another love song? There’s no shortage. 

I admire the ambition, and there were some genuinely funny moments, but it ended up being a sprawling mess. Woody Allen could have done much more with the raw material and handled the complex storytelling with greater skill.

Notting Hill (1999)

Romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis. 

William Thacker (Hugh Grant) works in a travel bookshop in Notting Hill. One day a famous actress (played by Julia Roberts) walks in. They begin an unlikely romance, but fame and other matters complicate their relationship.

It’s a sweet and funny love story. Grant and Roberts are both excellent. As with other Curtis narratives, a bunch of friends and relatives act as a sort of Greek chorus, commenting on the action and helping to move it along. These are all excellent in their own right. 

Grant is particularly appealing in this role. He seems so relaxed and at ease that his scenes are just a pleasure to watch. 

Rhys Ifans is a little too silly as his flatmate, and you cannot believe that someone as sensitive and gentle as Thacker would like or tolerate him. 

Also on the down side, there’s conspicuous product placement. And the music (Boyzone, Ronan Keating) is often terrible enough to take you out of the story. 

But ultimately it’s slick and charming. The characters come alive and the romance is touching.

Four Weddings & a Funeral (1994)

The best of the romantic comedies written by Richard Curtis. The script and narrative are tighter and sharper, so there’s not the messy sprawl of Love Actually. 

The story revolves around a group of friends, who we only meet via the sequence of formal rites-of-passage events alluded to in the title. It’s expertly constructed, with what seem like throwaway lines thrown in early on ending up having a neat pay-off later. 

Hugh Grant is extremely watchable – at his charming-but-nervous best. Has anyone ever done “flustered” better than him? Andie McDowell is suitably aloof and exotic as the mysterious American visitor who attracts his attention. 

The only character that doesn’t quite work is Scarlet (Charlotte Coleman). I assumed she was Charles’ sister but it turns out she’s only his flatmate. On the plus side, Kristin Scott Thomas, Simon Callow, John Hannah and Rowan Atkinson are all excellent.

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

Romantic comedy directed by Sharon Maguire and starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. It’s co-written by Richard Curtis and adapted from the popular 1996 novel by Helen Fielding. It’s also a sort of reinterpretation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. 

It’s funny in places, although Hugh Grant is given all the best lines. Colin Firth seems less well catered for in terms of the script, with the unfortunate result that you aren’t rooting for him when the plot suggests that you should be. Zellweger has a bumbling charm, and is perfect as the heroine everyone can relate to, even if her English accent doesn’t sound quite right. 

Some of the references wouldn’t have made it to a modern-day film, which makes it all the more interesting now. 

Gemma Jones is absolutely awful as Bridget’s mother – a misconceived role, badly handled. Jim Broadbent is marginally better as her father, but he’s not given a great deal to go on.

Made in Italy (2020)

An artist (Liam Neeson) and his son (Neeson’s real-life son Micheál Richardson) struggle to deal with the loss of their wife/mother while attempting to sell their run-down old house in Italy. 

The film tries to be poignant but isn’t well-written enough to inspire much of an emotional response – despite the tragic parallels with the actors’ own lives. Instead, it ends up being a sort of fifth-rate Richard Curtis homage – a rather tepid light drama with only one genuinely funny line.

Lindsay Duncan adds a little grit as a stern estate agent. Valeria Bilello seems rather idealised and one-dimensional as the son’s love interest. Neeson has his usual rugged appeal but sleepwalks through the role. 

It’s easy-to-watch, and of course the Italian landscapes are seductive, but ultimately it’s all rather mediocre.

The Boat That Rocked (2009)

Highly entertaining ensemble comedy written and directed by Richard Curtis.

It focuses on a North Sea pirate radio station, Radio Rock, and the DJs and other characters aboard it. Their adventures are juxtaposed against the government’s attempts to make pirate radio illegal and shut down the whole operation. 

The all-star cast includes Gemma Arterton, Kenneth Branagh, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, Bill Nighy, Katherine Parkinson and Emma Thompson, but the film is told from the perspective of a teenager, Carl (Tom Sturridge), who joins the floating team and gains the sense of family and identity that he’s been missing. There’s also a thread about him seeking his father, who he’s led to believe is on the boat. 

There are plenty of laughs but there are poignant moments too. And each of the characters is extremely well drawn, so you feel you get to know them all. 

The music is fantastic as you might expect for a film set in 1966–1967. Warm yet unsentimental, it works towards a dramatic and satisfying conclusion.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Shoddy sequel that’s simply not funny. The plot is a mess and it’s tonally all over the place. The worst crime, however, is that it’s simply not very funny. 

On the plus side, the three stars remain watchable no matter what – Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant all exude undeniable screen presence, but they can’t improve the wobbly script. There are long patches without any amusing lines at all. Loud music drowns out the dialogue in a few places. 

The film gets worse in the second half, seemingly just stringing out a weak premise to make up the full running time. Especially wretched was the gaggle of friends who make up the “Greek chorus” (a standard Richard Curtis tic) offering advice and commentary. Very old-fashioned gender politics, too, and we’re repeatedly told that life is worthless if you don’t have a handsome boyfriend.

Yesterday (2019)

Comedy drama written by Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle.

Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer who – owing to a mysterious electrical event it’s best not to ask too many questions about – suddenly finds himself in a world in which no one has heard of The Beatles. In fact, it appears that they never existed. He begins performing their songs, is recognised as a genius, and swiftly finds himself on the path to fame and fortune. But there are problems. He’s clearly not cut out for the life of a rock star – especially one whose success is built on a lie. And he also happens to be in love with his friend and former manager Ellie (Lily James).

It’s a sweet and touching story. The songs are wonderful, too, as you’d expect. The joy of the film is that through people’s stunned reactions it feels as if you get to hear The Beatles’ songs for the first time.

Patel and James are extremely endearing. You are rooting for them from the very beginning, able to identify with the pair in every scene.

Ed Sheeran appears as himself and is a feasible enough character in his own right rather than merely a walk-on famous-person role. Kate McKinnon is also fairly strong as Jack's ruthless new manager, who makes no secret of her desire to make a fortune out of the singer.

Fun and rewarding.

About a Boy (2002)

Uneven comedy/drama adapted from a novel by Nick Hornby. 

The clunkily named Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) is a moneyed-up consumer who lives a selfish life alone, protecting himself from commitments. He begins preying on single mothers in order to find a date (a quite disturbing trait that the film seems OK with) and ends up making friends with a 12-year-old boy with a suicidal mum (Toni Collette). The boy/man relationship, inevitably, teaches him to be less selfish and ultimately helps him to find a meaningful romance – with Rachel Weisz. 

Hugh Grant is as appealing as always but the big problem is the boy, Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), who is both unconvincing as a character and oddly difficult to like. Several elements in the story lack the all-important ring of truth. In particular, it’s never explained why Will is so disengaged from society. Is he depressed? Why? What’s the unresolved issue with his father that’s briefly alluded to but never explored? The script is too shallow to get inside these questions and make the characters three-dimensional and “real”. It seems like a fifth-rate imitation of a Richard Curtis film. 

The soundtrack is by Badly Drawn Boy and works well.