Thomas Brodie-Sangster, left, and Liam Neeson and in “Love Actually” 2003. IMDb photo
I hope you didn’t miss the Tuesday night, Nov. 29 reunion with the cast of one of the best Christmas movies ever made, “Love Actually,” on ABC. If you did, you can stream it on Hulu.
MOVIE INFO
“LOVE ACTUALLY”
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
Length: 135 minutes
Rating: Moderate sex, nudity and profanity, with mild alcohol, drugs and smoking.
Director: Richard Curtis
Writer: Richard Curtis
Stars: Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson
“Love Actually,” upon its opening on Nov. 26, 2003, didn’t exactly shake up the movie industry. It should be noted that “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane” didn’t shake anything either.
I was forced to watch this huge cast fill out a parade of lovers, old and young, widowed and famous, who played out magical lives caught up in the Christmas week in London.
But six minutes in I was hooked, especially while watching the great Bill Nighy — as “Billy Mack” — slide on as an aging rock star in a snake-skin jacket, and Colin Firth as “Jamie” losing his only draft of a terrible novel in a fish pond, and then falling in love with a heartbreaking lovely Portugese housekeeper (Lucia Moniz) who can’t speak English.
Let yourself go, and accept Hugh Grant as the British Prime Minister who falls in love with his secretary and pulls off a great staircase dance to the Pointer Sister’s “Jump.”
The late great Alan Rickman is here, along with Emma Thompson and Billy Bob Thornton, as a Donald Trumpish American president.
And just when you can’t handle any more talent, along comes the great British comedian Rowan Atkinson as an over-the-top jewelry salesman.
Telling you all this is probably a waste of your time, because you’ve surely added this one to your must-see list of Christmas stories, along with “The Bishop’s Wife” and “Miracle on 34th Street.”
But “Love Actually,” like those classics, refused to be thrown in the dumpster with the video collection of Tab Hunter’s “Greatest Moments.”
I was stunned to see action hunk Liam Neeson as a bereaved daddy of a teenage boy, who has his own love story play out.
Year by year, “Love Actually” has become the Christmas movie for all ages.
I envy you meeting all of this wonderful talent in an amazing Christmas parade of lovers.
Enjoy, enjoy enjoy.
Watch it on Peacock TV, Philo, ROW8, Prime Video, Vudu or Apple TV on your Roku device.
J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.
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