"love actually"

Each in their unique way allows the audience to look at love in different variations - silent love, body-language love, parental love; foolish love; puppy love, a love fling; friendship, companionship, forgiving love, infatuation, et. al. It's, in reality, just the sort of movie the world needs right now.

Aw. Kill them.

cookies

I'm hoping X3 will be a musical.

A story of one British actor's love for white turtlenecks.

If only X2 had been a romantic comedy.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's greatest triumph!

"I'm Professor Xavier, I am
I gather mutants from Siam
Or Canada or Mexicoooooooo..."

you mean scotch, right?

And maybe it's because I'm an American, but Hugh Grant as Tony Blair is absolutely perfect in every way.

http://www.theonion.com/onion3530/blair_witch_3530.html

I guess this is a movie I'll have to see with someone. Something really creepy about checking out the afternoon show of a romantic comedy by yourself.

I will almost certainly despise the soundtrack. (Atomic Kitten doing a limp cover of something or other. Or maybe Girls Aloud).

But yes, I am really excited about Love Actually. And I believe that, deep down, Nick is excited about it too. He just doesn't realize it. Screw you guys!

i guess i'll be unfashionable and stick up for artist biopics, the genre turns out lots of crap and sometimes begs the question of its very existence but as a genre it's interesting to see the different directions in which it can be turned.

saying this having seen the overlong but fascinating "kean" a few weeks ago, starring ivan mosjoukine.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00003XAKX.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://www.marshallamps.com/images/marshalllaw/news/artistpix/slayer.jpg

ned continues his cryptic alex in nyc parody-cum-homage.

"Love Actually" has Hugh Grant in it and that alone makes it worth a look, even "nine months" was fun on cable.

Not entirely disconnected thought: angst is only interesting to people having it.

(what happened to the Malkovich Ripley movie? It popped up on IFC at some point, but no theatrical or DVD release)

biopics are all the same movie! nitpick over minor details like "who is it about" etc and you're just begging for disappointment

Put the kids to sleep
Tell the maid to go
Think I'll make a cake
Check the oven...oh."

(aka the reeeeeeeeeeeeeally cheap way of seeing the movies)

But I quite like both,
and I'll be there with the wife,
Hugh makes her drool. (Hmm.)

My feminine side wants to see this; my male side heads toward an old-fashioned round of footie.

Not sure which will win....

The Village People in Glengarry Glen Ross.

haha! why on earth would you go and see this film alex?

He explained elsewhere that his wife wanted to go and he was a good husband and went along. Now he cries inside.

Hahhaha. I earned that. But, by the same token, I was fully aware of that I was comprimising my otherwise highly discriminating standards by subjecting myself to this crapola. Sloppily cut'n'pasting bits'n'pieces of "About a Boy," "Bridget Jones' Diary", "Notting Hill", "Four Weddings & a Funeral" and probably about six other "Brit-coms" that escape me right now does decidedly not a film make. What I found so upsetting about the film is that it was both so rote and so flimsily held together (some passages are so crappily sketched out they're barely coherent, whereas others are left so haphazzardly resolved, it's the narrative equivalent of putting a used band-aid on a hemorhage). I resent even investing time and energy in, say, the sub-plot involving Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman, which was largely left completely at loose ends (what happened? She kicked him out for month? He went away on a business trip?) And what about Laura Linney's office crush? She chalked it up to an aborted one-night-stand because she must piously look after her demented sibling? And the whole Colin the self-proclaimed "Sex God" going to America? What a bunch of crap that was (its crass lack of plausibility undermining the more "serious" passages of the film, like Rickman's infidelity crisis.

It was manipulative and unfulfilling, and the more I think about it, the madder I get. It was a complete, half-assed rip-off throwaway, as if the writer just glued a bunch of unfinished sketchs together, put a pretty bow on it and re-gifted it to you.

Worse than that: prior to the film, they showed a preview of the forthcoming Ben Stiller movie, which involved poop jokes, a blind ferrett and even yet still more of his usual fare (phoning in what's expected of him since more original fare didn't click, apparently). There was a couple sitting behind us who laughed at Stiller's desperate pandering as if they'd never been out of the hosue before. I know this makes me sound like a terrible snob, but I found it so depressing that people lap up this poorly executed, low-brow slapstick "comfort comedy" (no brain work involved)

If a film made you cry or laugh (or whatever) but you enjoyed it would that still be 'manipulative' or would it be something else?

I just think the whole production was so slapdash that you had the emotional motivators, yet were left without much of a plausible/credible resolution. And saying "oh, it's just a silly romantic comedy" is a cop-out. Just because it's a silly comedy doesn't mean you check your brain and your standards at the door.

The first thing they could've done was trim the fat: dump some of the less fleshed-out/plausible sub-plots (I'm talking very specifically about the "Colin the God of Sex Goes to America" and "the Naked Shy Couple of Porn Film Extras"). That would've freed up a bit more time to concentrate on the more believable stories.

Though I liked Hugh Grant's stuff, for the most part, I thought his grudge against the American president (played quite well by Billy Bob Thornton, I thought) was pretty funny, though it was so sketchy on details. Like what exactly was he supposed to be standing up to him about? Iraq? Wheat tariffs? It was weird the way the script dodged its way around that one--actually drew more attention to it, I thought.

Care to wager?

* I thought there were entirely too many references to women being fat in the movie. True, they refer to the manager as fat, but mostly it's women either feeling themselves fat or other people finding those women to be fat, including Hugh Grant's crush who was IN NO WAY CHUBBY. Give me a FUCKIN break.

* I can't decide what I think of the whole September 11th stuff except to say that it was definitely a huge downer at the start of the movie.

I will definitely have to own this movie.

I think you need to realize what type of movie you're walking into before you walk into it. Okay, not all the time, but this one wasn't exactly a "surprise! This is actually an experimental film about French paraplegics in the Spanish Civil War" film. If you didn't expect the general mood, feel, and convention of this film before walking in, you probably should...

You know what? I don't feel like finishing that sentence. Fuck it - you like it or you don't - it doesn't ask anything more or less than that. It wasn't a GREAT film, no. But it was a FUN film, and for that I was grateful. I'll probably buy my gf a copy, because she liked it, and it's the kind of movie she does indeed like and enjoy watching from time to time. I probably won't have any desire to see it again, but it wasn't like I was writhing in my seat - I laughed, I enjoyed it, and I got what I hoped for: a decent, slightly above average POPCORN film. The end.

See, but that's where you're wrong. Despite my better judgement, I DO like the other Working Title films (specifically "Bridget Jones' Diary", "Four Weddings & a Funeral" and "About a Boy"). Those films were well-written, believable and stylishly pulled off....unlike this slap-dash ripoff of same.

Care to wager?

Damn straight! I doubt it'll be up to Four Weddings standards, but I reckon they've chucked enough wit into the script, stars into the cast and threads into the convoluted story to make LA an enjoyable hundred minutes of popcorn/stuffed fun. So ner.

I care about that. It was way beyond RP - she had her mouth plummily half-closed all the time and all her utternaces came out in this nasal rah rah rah. Posh girls just don't speak like that. Well they haven't for fifty years anyway. The vowel sound in ought, bought and sought was miles over the top. It's progress from Dick Van Dyke, but still wound me right up. Vile film, anyway.

Even tho Grant certainly has a lot of Blair about him in the movie, it actually seemed to me like he was supposed to represent a hypothetical *next* PM after Blair, who does everything Blair should have but hasn't (in a very simplified manner of course, so it's just Standing Up To Bush), and makes Blair's govt fall into obscurity (cf: how they keep referring to "the other guy", "the others")

and i loved it. it was incredibly strange. definite bad point: the keira knightley story. but otherwise, though i can see why ppl d hate this, i couldn't help liking it.

Also without the seemingly compulsory Rowan-Atkinson-being-an-annoying-twat thing which is NOT funny. Ever. Under any circumstances. Is there more to his relationship with Curtis that we know about? His cameos are the worst thing of any film he's ever been in.

Was the "all I want for Christmas is...you" bit with Martin Freeman and the porn girl outside her flat meant to be an attempt to overtake "Is it raining..I hadn't noticed" as the worst line ever?

Bit mr ailsa laughed out loudest at:
Bill Nighy to Declan Donnelly: "thank you Ant or Dec".

I thought Andrew Lincoln's unrequited love for Keira Knightley was beautiful, and although the Colin Firth strand was ultra-schmaltzy, it worked.

I hated that Laura Linney didn't get the happy ending. I wanted the bf to turn up at the home to spend Christmas with her and her brother.

Oh, Alan Rickman. K-foxy. RRRooooooowwwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH¿

And an eight-year-old kid acting like an adult? CHILDREN DO NOT DO THAT. Good to see bad US sitcoms are infecting the UK film industry.

It seemed like a Hamptead wet dream - an irritating articulate 8 year old, as clever as emotional literate as all good Steiner kids, a PM who tells it like it is to the US of A at a Press Conference, in part, we suspect, because the Prez has made improper suggestions to the tealady (West Wing meets upstairs downstairs via Ealing), an honest to God. Also a Batchelor in Number 10? IN 2004? Do me a favour guv.

Too many stories to really give a shit to be honest - Rickman and Thompson's was good. Lincoln's irritating (or is that Lincoln is irritating?) and the less said about Keira Knightly the better. She'd never had run out after him; just left it on the steps. Trip to the states by the bloke was pointless and Martine McCutheon's swear fest as she walked down the stairs was typical Curtis's complete failure to confuse the argot of him and his mates with the metier of profanity everywhere. (See Bridget Jones' Diary)

God, I really really hated it. As I hope this post shows. The 8 year old's plot was so pointless and irritating that it's the nearest to live-action Jar Jar Binks.

"Great beginnings and great endings without the middles," says the writer director guy, but it's more like he filmed the scenes you'd trim into advertisements and then left the rest of the stories out.

Curtis can be so delightfully bang-on, and then he can be so far off the mark it's painful.

There was not one redeeming feature about that kid running through airport security. Not one.

Semi-interesting fact: the Martin Freeman section and any references to it are excised from the East Asia version. They can't stand Hardware over there.

Wha'? Dude, there's a ton of English people shuddering in horror upthread. Curtis is a bad man for spreading this vileness. Also, freaking Bridget Jones' Diary really got my goat with every bugger living in enormous castle houses (see Bridget & Mark's parents' places). The book presents a (slightly) more normal (albeit Londonised and Chardonnayed-up)lifestyle.

Surely you mean the success of it etc. over here. Unless Mel's journey of personal transformation is now complete. ;-)

I agree to an extent that this seemed like a dumping ground for a lot of unfinished screenplay ideas. but it worked more than it didn't and I just ignored the parts I didn't like. I have a hard time disliking anything Hugh Grant is in (except for Nine Weeks, that really was bad).

has this held up? i've never seen it.

Don't bother. I finally was trapped into seeing this on some plane flight somewhere = MISTAKE.

Think of the twee-est Belle & Sebastian song you can imagine. Replace any 60's pop sensibilities with Hugh Grant. Can you tolerate this? If so, you will probably have a good time.

I should add that I am fine with this,

brunette who gets it with the "prime minister" is a fucking dime

this movie blow but i don't see why that matters

blows

this movie fucking sucked i am so embarrassed i started this thread

i still love this movie despite all my cynicism

It's just one of those bits of culture that takes what it is so very, very far that it's hard for me to criticize by the usual standards.

Slocki, I gotta say, seeing your name up there at the start was utterly disconcerting.

weet salivating lucifer I saw this rancid boil masquerading as a film last night, and I've never seen a lazier, more manipulative bit of cinematic fluff in my life. It made certain episodes of "the Love Boat" look like David Mamet. It was positively INSULTING!

^^^^^^
hi yes

this movie made me want the US to pull out of NATO

i think a movie wherein alan rickman gets repeatedly slapped in the face and socked in the balls by emma thompson while hugh grant gets table dances from the secretary for an hour and a half would be more preferable and less stupid movie

STU
PID
MOV
IE

Sorry, that was meant to be my own opinion before I read m. bison's.

Yeah this was just utter plastic shite, this movie.

eh I'm bothered that this is apparently the number one movie at my uni according to fb. I could take the presence of Amelie or Garden State on that list but wtf?

Good lord, Roz. Transfer.

i've thought about it. maybe next year.

SENTIMENTAL SAPPY PAP WITH VARIOUS OTHER ISSUES
and i still love it
cuz i have no taste obv

HOOS WINS FOR THE WHOLE NIGHT ON THIS BOARD WITH A PHRASE LIKE "SENTIMENTAL SAPPY PAP"

...with various other issues

Hoosiers?

that secretary is way cuet tho

^ real bros

this movie was torture

i can't believe you guys were up late/early/drunk talking abt this terrible terrible move

i do understand the original enthusiasm for it though, before it came out and anything was really known abt what a mess it is

fuck all of you this movie is awesome.

i was smoking some terrible crack back in the 03.

"welcome to the 03, bitch"

another film i will never see :)

I was told that "everyone loves" this movie, and I had never seen it because it seemed wholly opposite in every way to what I want from a romantic movie. First, it contained Hugh Grant. Second, I was aware that there is a scene from this movie where the best friend of someone holds up these placards confessing his love and I found that act extraordinarily selfish. No one in this movie seemed even remotely appealing, but I figure that if everyone loves it so much, it must be sort of an example for how people see an imagined version of what love and romance are "supposed to be" -- a template for popular (in the traditional sense) beliefs about love and romance.

I watched 42 min of it last night, just to see whether I was being a grouch. Turns out I hate every last character in this movie with the exception of Emma Thompson, but even she seems like a caricature. I don't know if I can manage to watch the rest.

My mom loves the Big Emma Thompson Scene.

Should I keep watching? Is it worth it just to know what (some of) my friends think is romantic/a good movie? I am trying to relate to other humans, but this movie is some rough going.

i saw valentine's day on a plane once so as far as i'm concerned this movie's fuckin lubitsch

i guess i should watch the rest because i want to be able to say that i watched the whole thing and hated every minute of it.
maybe some of these spineless worms will stop hating themselves for long enough to be happy for 5 seconds and then it will be Christmas and the movie will be over.

so far, the least loathsome -- body double couple
the most loathsome -- pm obvs

no, creepy best friend is most loathsome so far

Just saw part of it on TV again the other day, and was inspired to re-read videogum's fun rant about it: http://www.videogum.com/250742/the-hunt-for-the-worst-movie-of-all-time-love-actually/franchises/the-hunt-for-the-worst-movie-of-all-time/

Movie really is like one of those MTV True Life episodes where the theme that allegedly bonds the subjects isn't really the issue that everyone's dealing with. Overwhelmingly "love" is presented as a mad crush likely prodded by stress or grief rather than any experienced chemistry. And according to the movie, one should chase this impulse to ridiculous extremes no matter what the risk to self (or country), unless you're already married, in which case you're just being stupid.

Lotta charming British actors having feelings, though.

You are striking at the heart of what I find most revolting about this movie -- it's taking romantic love and turning it into unrecognizable narcissistic toxic sludge that rots your hand off when you touch it. But I'll watch it just so I can ask "what is it that you like so much about this movie" next time someone tells me that I need to see it.

I don't mean to be so hyperbolic -- I'm really just kind of trying to understand what there is to like about these people. Maybe it'll get better?

This movie owns

i think we're supposed to like that one guy was in Four Weddings & A Funeral, another was Mr. Darcy, another was the lady from Sense & Sensibility, etc

that's insulting

You are striking at the heart of what I find most revolting about this movie -- it's taking romantic love and turning it into unrecognizable narcissistic toxic sludge that rots your hand off when you touch it.

with British accents

This is the worst movie, get out while you still can.

Never seen, but I can remember the soundtrack during my record store days, mostly because of some annoying-as-fuck Christmas song set to the melody of "Love Is All Around" that was sung by one of the cast members. A co-worker kept assuring me that it was hilarious in context, but that song alone all but guarantees I'll never find out for sure.

i have watched an hour of this movie now. the music is some of the worst part of it. hugh mcminister dancing to "jump" was AWFUL. also keira knightley's utter incredulity when she saw that all of the footage that this guy shot at her wedding was not "omg get out of here immediately" it was "...but it's all me" like a two year old. no adult person could possibly be that naive.

the au pair segments are a LOT better if you imagine that she's not really there and that he is hallucinating these magical bilingual conversations.

omg that would be amazing

This movie actually made me hate the concept of love and romance. Thanks, Hollywood!

it's making me think that the concept itself is DOA if this is the best we can do

It's no Notting Hill.

even better, it's like notting hill x 100! i've watched 90 min now and i'm convinced this whole movie is a hallucination, esp laura linney's man and the portuguese woman, aurelia or whatever her name was. the girls in milwaukee. all of them. i expect that soon it will be revealed that this is all just an experiment by aliens to learn how to replicate human behavior. billy bob thornton is their leader, obvs.

you're totally otm, LL; this movie is the pits

forgot to mention that the kid with the alien face is a complete psychopath

It's completely unrealistic, in what world would a prime minister get funky with one of his staff and likewise for the (Billy Bob) president try it on with a younger woman while in office.

Press Conference Reporter: Mr. President, has it been a good visit?

The President: Very satisfactory indeed. We got what we came for, and our special relationship is still very special.

Press Conference Reporter: Prime Minister?

Prime Minister: I love that word "relationship." Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship; a relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm... Britain. We may be a small country, but we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that.

I actually cried during that speech, beautiful moment.

well, i'm done watching this movie now. i guess i didn't see the director's cut where they reveal that the thread connecting all of these people together is a water supply contaminated with microscopic beings that creep into our bodies and seek to control our behavior so that we may be more easily controlled by them.

I'd like the filmmakers to devote a sequel to each main character in which we view their violent death. Each one could be called "boa constrictors actually", "grease fire actually", "faulty wiring actually", etc.

"I know there's a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually and tell America where to get off. But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there's the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause."

Blair in 2005

placard guy still wins the prize for creepiest lover in this movie

I'd like the filmmakers to devote a sequel to each main character in which we view their violent death. Each one could be called "boa constrictors actually", "grease fire actually", "faulty wiring actually", etc.

― Darin, Saturday, June 29, 2013 3:59 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Vacuum Cleaner Mishap Actually
H1N1 Actually
Bizarre Gardening Accident Actually
we should poll these and make a top 20 list....

I watched Love Actually when it became available on DVD. I recall making out with the girl I lived with at the time on our couch far more vividly than anything from the actual film (she left me the DVD when she moved out as a memento, thanks!) and this inextricable link makes it impossible for me to fairly judge the film on its own merits; but I also recall thinking that the intended humor of the bad rendition of "Love is All Around" would be completely lost on most Americans, since the Wet Wet Wet cover wasn't a big hit in the US, and having the #1 song on the charts on Christmas Day isn't the big deal it is in the UK; 25 December is just another day on the pop charts in America.

Don't remember thinking the placard guy was creepy or selfish, but do wonder what he would have done had her boyfriend/husband answered the doorbell instead of her....

i saw this w/my gf when it came out and she loved rick from the walking dead using handmade signs to tell his best friend's wife that he wants to fuck her. i remain skeptical that any dude could pull that off irl and have it work out so smoothly

i like this

now that i've seen it, i can ask: why? what are some things you like about this movie?

also iirc it didn't work out all that smoothly for him, unless you count not getting excommunicated from his group of friends -- he did not get to accompany her into a state of physical decomposition, as he alluded to in one of his posters. what a charmer! so glad they kept that guy around.

now that i've seen it, i can ask: why? what are some things you like about this movie?
this goes for anyone btw -- i'm curious.

Yeah he's fucked iirc, still being total 3rd wheel in the airport scene, obvs trapped in self-created stalking hell. Double murder within the year.

Considering the lengths he has gone to so far, I can't say I'd put it past him. That video made my skin crawl! The choir was nice, but clearly ott. AND he lied about not having the tapes. How backwards does a person have to be in order to do these things? How stupid was she that she wasn't like uhhhhhh about a zill years ago with this guy?

I guess he's that guy they're scared not to invite out and about (and to the airport) because at least they can keep an eye on him that way.

I don't think like this film, but i've been trapped with it three or four times. I think its virtue is that it's got space to be read against itself, glum fables about narcissism, stalking, cracked marriages, whim-based politics and Laura Linney being punished for having an ethics beyond romantic love.

Also pretend it was made a few years later and that Curtis is on some heavy Lars Von Trier punish-the-actor shit with widowed Neeson.

I'm pretty sure that LL's dude was a hallucination too. I thought for sure he was going to turn out to be a complete creep, but him being nice (within limits) made the story even weirder. The brother was the most interesting character of the bunch, really. I'd like to know more about Chewitel's relationship with his bff -- that would be an interesting backstory.

Lots of questions about age in this movie --

Laura Linney was a lot older than that bohunk she was with, right?
On what planet is Hugh Grant Emma Thompson's older brother?!
How on earth could Emma T and that repulsive husband of hers have children that young?!
What was Denise Richards doing with that sex quest dude? Isn't she about 10-12 years older than him? I'm just wondering: are we to understand that he went to USA and hooked up with a bunch of MILFs?
How old was the pm's sexy secretary supposed to be? She seemed like a teenager and I was wondering how a teenager got a job like that.

i had the same thought about the liam neeson story! it reminded me of satisfaction, where he turned into a soggy washed up boozehound after his wife died.

now that i've seen it, i can ask: why? what are some things you like about this movie?

Having only ever seen the trailer and synopsis, I can ask: why? Why would anyone even consider watching this film?

To be totally frank, a few people who I really like also like this movie, which has always seemed like a terrible movie at least, and a source of kind of disgusting notions about romantic love that probably work their way into our (whoever "we" are) culture via imitation/emulation of the characters. What are the grand gestures from this movie that people latch on to as desirable ways to communicate romantic love? I never watch rom coms because I hate them, but I do like romance. I was just curious what passes for romance, and it turned out to be worse than I thought!

I don't hate romcoms but congrats, you just saw everything that's hateful about them condensed into one foetid package

that's what it seemed like. i have often wondered if there is a romcom out there that i wouldn't hate.

I do hate romcoms. I kind of liked Bringing Up Baby, though.

Oh, Some Like It Hot is pretty good, too.

Can't think of any modern ones I'd even countenance, though.

Yeah they are the worst! The thought of them just makes me feel mean, which I don't enjoy. The only movie on that list that I enjoyed was Coming to America.

This list reflects the sorry state of romance today:

Top grossing romcoms (acc to wiki)

Coming to America (1988)
When Harry Met Sally... (1990)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993])
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
As Good as It Gets (1997)[14]
My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
There's Something About Mary (1998)
You've Got Mail (1998)
Runaway Bride (1999)
Notting Hill (1999)
What Women Want (2000)
American Pie 2 (2001)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
The Santa Clause 2 (2002)
Love Actually (2003)
American Wedding (2003)
Hitch (2005)
Knocked Up (2007)
Sex and the City (2008)
Mamma Mia! (2008)
The Proposal (2009)
It's Complicated (2009)
Sex and the City 2 (2010)
Just Go with It (2011)
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Think Like a Man (2012)
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Aren't these romcoms aimed at lonely women and/or groups of girls that have pyjama parties with a 2 litre bottle of lambrini?

Tootsie!

Flirting With Disaster

That list is horrible (Coming to America excepted, I do have an irrational soft spot for that...)

When Harry Met Sally is ok.

The Santa Clause 2?

Silver Linings Playbook got pretty good reviews, but the whole scenario puts me off. I can do without seeing patronising romcom versions of mental illness, thanks.

The Philadelphia Story

problem w silver lining is theres v l rom, no com, just a lot of shouting mostly

I do feel that ppl are just not as willing to suspend disapproval/go with it when it comes to romcoms, compared to other obvious fantasies with dubious elements

The apartment!

Tootsie was ok but the last time I saw it was probably gradeschool.
The Jerk is great, not sure if that is a rom com or just a com.

I like All of Me. LA Story was pretty good. I guess I just like Steve Martin :-/

I have a lot less patience with substandard comedy than I do with, e.g. horror. If I find a comedy unfunny then I have no time for it, whereas a horror doesn't necessarily have to be scary to be good. Not sure why this is.

Also, I find a lot of Hollywood romance tropes actively offensive.

that list basically reveals that my favourite genre of all time is Rom Coms.

even if the titles only happen to contain the word "love"
i always think of this film when i see the title love actually

http://eafilmclub.sa.utoronto.ca/events/PerhapsLove1.jpg

Agree with you emil.y on both points.

Particularly because Hollywood tends to be where people look for ideas when it comes to romance, and that's generally pretty disappointing in terms of people and where they look for models. When I was in hs a friend of mine used to get love notes thrown into her McDonald's order, which was cute enough, but then they started showing up in her mailbox at home and she was like how does he know where I live? And the whole thing was hella creepy. That's just one example, but clearly these ideas can be pretty toxic!

I'm particularly repulsed by silent pining that yields good results in the movies, if I had to narrow it down to a single trope.

people = lots of people, obviously not all people (there are books etc)

I think I like Holiday even better than The Philadelphia Story fwiw.

There are actively offensive tropes in action horror &c

True. I guess I don't feel like they're aspirational so much, though.

Gregory's Girl, that was a good romcom.

i don't hate the genre, i think wins has a point that we often overlook the pleasures of the movies because of the horrible bits in a way that isn't always true of other genres. but having said that i'm struggling to think of something from the last 10-15 years that i'd wholeheartedly get behind, in English anyway.

Maybe horror & action movies show GUYS how to be, which happens to include how to be toward women, and lots/most of that implicit advice is offensive, but romcoms show women how to be, so it's being consumed presumably willingly by the injured party.

I guess I don't feel like they're aspirational so much, though.
Uh, exactly. No one says I'm gonna surprise my sweetie by leaping out of this closet with a knife and shouting I LOVE YOU.

from looking thru the list on Wikipedia i get the idea that a lot of people categorize any mainstream comedy with a female lead as a romcom. much as i love Legally Blonde for example i don't think it fits the genre

I like Legally Blonde too. It is not a rom com. The rom is not the focus of the movie or the com.

40 Year Old Virgin was ok.

But also, weirdly, p much everything that happens in a horror or action movie is totally impossible/fantastical EXCEPT the treatment of women? Sadly, women being targeted for mutilation or w/e isn't even really fiction. But romcoms happen in "the real world" and look like rl except for how the sexes treat each other? Maybe. I'm just floating this theory.

Yeah I think you might be underestimating the extent to which ppl cop attitudes from action movies & overestimating the extent to which ppl cop attitudes from romcoms Xps

Like, this stuff is prevalent in all Hollywood movies pretty much, but one genre seems like its being singled out as being purely instructional or something

See: romantic subplot of every mainstream movie in nv's timeframe

Romance is being singled out (by me at least) because it's something everyone should be able to experience in life. Most of us expect it at least once? I don't expect to get stuck in a helicopter over the rainforest being chased by people who want to kill me or to visit a distant island populated by ritually homicidal maniacs.

Romance is something we could all conceivably engage in, basically.

You may be right. I don't watch action movies though, so I can't really comment on them. And although horror is often known for its stereotypes (the damsel in distress, the black guy dies first etc), my experience is that the vast majority of horror is actually way ahead of the game in subverting those same stereotypes.

See: romantic subplot of every mainstream movie in nv's timeframe

This isn't a good comparison, though. There's a difference between SUBPLOT and PLOT. If you're going to posit that every genre has hateful romances, then you're just aiding my argument that I should hate romcoms more, because the hateful romance is at the very core of it.

xps

Anyway, I'm watching Gremlins 2 right now, and that is clearly the best fim ever made. Anything else can GTFO.

also reminder this movie is called "love actually" -- i was initially given the impression that they were aiming for some kind of realism by the montages of "real people" embracing at the airport that open and close this treacly piece of crap.

gremlins 4ever

wouldve preferred a montage of ppl getting off planes and meeting their loved ones to trash this horrible ass movie they saw on the flight
fuck this shit actually

a short film by m bison

also iirc it didn't work out all that smoothly for him, unless you count not getting excommunicated from his group of friends

i do!

tbh 'bringing up baby' is more like a horror movie than a rom-com.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

no idea why it took people like 70 years after that movie to invent the phrase manic pixie dream girl

well k-hep's not a pixie of course.

manic enough for a flock of zooeys tho

in orbit otm about 'holiday' -- might make my top 20 movies list.

there are like a hundred perfectly good-to-great romcoms from like 1930 to 1950, including some of the best movies ever made. hard-pressed to think of any modern ones on that level.

i typed a list upthread and didn't post it for whatever reason but all the ones i could think of from the 2000s i knew lots of people would :/ at, like, i still like eternal sunshine a lot and i liked punch-drunk love last time i saw it (high school) (but thinking about it now emily watson is p much a fantasy)

i guess eternal sunshine isn't very funny

I think I like Holiday even better than The Philadelphia Story fwiw.

― Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit),

yes. One of my top ten movies.

otoh I instinctively recoil at the patronizing "romcom" gets when every genre is in serious trouble in 2013 anyway

i am rly into the lady eve

who isn't? show him to me

btw no one's mentioned Before Sunset as a romantic comedy.

and The Birdcage.

'lady eve' is wonderful, not least because it kind of makes no sense at all.

lemme aks you a hypothermical question

forgetting sarah marshall's p good

addendum about placard guy: being in love with someone you can't have is a perfectly normal thing to experience. those who are able to write songs about it/make some kind of art to exorcise it from their brains tend to do so. all you could do was this placard thing? LAAAAAAAAAAAAME.

that guy sucks so bad. that he wins at the end (even if it means being allowed to remain part of the friend group) speaks to the extreme lameness of all of these people.

You really don't like that character do you.

Is placard guy the walking dead guy now or am i misremembering

Americas sweethearts obv the best modern romcom

He is the worst. I will say that his only stab at redemption was when he announced proudly that he was "done" fixating on her. Thanks buddy!

Aw, you're being really hard on that dude!

irl LOLs at this though "First, it contained Hugh Grant."

I'd be open to an argument in favor of his behavior. The thing that sticks in my head is that she thought he "hated" her, implying that they were not friends, did not share mutual interests or hearty lols about the same things. He was cold, distant, and...obsessed. Ew!

btw LL, if I am ever stuck in front of this again treating some of the characters as hallucinations opens whole new vistas of interpretation, thank you for showing me the way

M Night Shyamalan's "Ghosts Actually"

The happening sequel, four weedings and a funeral

though i think some of your age questions are off LL -

What was Denise Richards doing with that sex quest dude? Isn't she about 10-12 years older than him?

only a couple of years older irl. but ikwym, she felt like an ex-starlet even by the time LA came out - Wild Things, & Starship Troopers were 5-6 years before. & January Jones is younger. I think the orgy gang are all meant to be vaguely early-mid-20s.

& I think the kids are roughly right for Thompson's own kids maybe

Things I actually like in LA: Heike Makatsch. Sexual presence in a film that can't do sex, disruptive.

oh ok, i'm glad to be wrong. i was mostly wondering why they got all the (unfortunately) washed up american hotties to be in this movie. Laura Linney's man was my favorite hallucination btw. He was exquisitely unreal.

was he the same guy who was in that one episode of downton abbey?

btw there was this thread too
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=84835

oh good, the body double couple were the only ones i could even possibly tolerate/see dating irl. they were affable and seemed to genuinely like each other. i don't get why everyone in these movies needs to be so neurotic and uptight. that's not an essential part of the romantic experience imo.

anyway, now i have seen this movie.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5342/9184778148_1c739a7056_o.jpg

cool font
there should be a little picture of his creep tape in the corner of the poster

Laura Linney's man was my favorite hallucination btw. He was exquisitely unreal.

That man is so impossibly handsome it's ridiculous.

jean luc placard was a sad creepy dude

This really is one of those weird little movies that people are just obsessed with, huh?

Last britishy romance I saw was 'the holiday' w winslet, cam diaz, jude law, jack black...it was pretty weak. Eli wallach was the best part, if only bc his storyline didn't involve romantic plots I despised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT49R7Ffxzg

ha, I have absolutely no memory of starting that other thread. But obviously I still love the movie. I think a good amount of anglophilia is required to do - i.e. if it were American I would hate it and I can't imagine why British people would ever watch it.

ok enough with this movie ffs
in the last month or so, i've seen five "i have an opinion about this movie" pieces of writing (the atlantic - 2, and one each in rookie, jezabel, xojane) and four of them were about hating it.

that's pathetic, some of us have a track record of hating Richard Curtis stretching back 20 years

hairpin done one too
I'm happy to have never seen this. I did attend a Christmas film night last night where it was threatened, but the DVD player broke so we watched Elf

my gf made me watch this for the first time two weeks ago - so rabidly hating on this movie is new for me.
this move is seriously terrible and it's not my fault that i feel the need to yell this from the mountain tops.

yeah, what's going on with this lately? I've seen a bunch of headlines too although I haven't read any of them because why would you? is this a promotional push for a new dvd release or something?

10th Anniversary.

So many other movies more deserving of a 10th anniversary reconsideration.

Have never seen, but I'm sure I've spoken about THAT FUCKING CHRISTMAS SONG somewhere upthread.

I only revived this thread because it seemed like the tide had shifted and people were hating on this movie so vociferously that it made me want to try to find something to like about it (even though obviously it is a terrible movie).

Maybe I should try to promote the theory that many of the people in this movie are hallucinations.

novel idea, but doesn't really make it more watchable

why would u watch this

could've been worse: "An additional plot that was dropped in editing concerned the children's headmistress and her dying lesbian partner."

wd you watch notting hill, four weddings, or bridget jones

No way!!

LOL, oh hey, January Jones.

over 15 years' avoidance!

I saw it back in 2003 and revisited it for the first time since. Emma Thompson deserved better (both a better husband and a better movie).

i dont think i've seen this thread before and i'm not about to read through it right now . how the fuck is this a Christmas movie ?

when ppl i know stan for this movie it hurts me

how the fuck is this a Christmas movie

it's set at, and is often about, Christmas

hth

it's been years since i've seen it but i don't remember a strong christmas theme other than it took place in the month of december.

It's no Die Hard of course.

love, actually, is tonyblair

Isn't the climax a rendition of "All I Want for Christmas Is You"?

xxp that one always got me too. nothing more christmasy than december in Los angeles

oh yeah that stupid song ! oh fuck you guys for making me remember this move that my mind obviously saw the need to omit

I haven't read this thread before I don't think but I hate this film with the fire of a thousand suns

Every cutaway shot of stalker-baby's dead-eyed stalker stare aimed at his Mariah Carette dream girl while he mechanically drums away in the background is a treasure.

More Christmas movies should feature Rodrigo Santoro in his tighty-blackies.

I like how the first reaction to the film itt is to feel INSULTED which was my biggest reaction too

I would like to vehemently hate this movie too but I doubt I'll ever sit thru it

I almost admire how fully this movie manages to achieve total alienation from human behavior.

I only watched it because Mr kinder somehow saw it then spent ages trying to describe to me how awful it was and I wouldn't believe him so went to see for myself and it was WORSE

I saw this when it came out and it was crappy weather in Dublin so we decided to stay in the movie theater all day.

and just because it's somehow not linked to itt (although referenced):
https://jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388

i feel like that piece was very influential because if love actually ever comes up in conversation everyone knows it's awful and why even if they've never seen it

Yeah I love that Jezebel piece and believe it's entirely true

I have no idea since I will never see this movie (and indeed was blissfully unaware of its existence prior to this morning) but yes me too

pretty sure at least three people who watched Love Actually between 2003 and 2013 figured out it was bad

kinda like this movie. i mentioned this on the other thread, but i like the idea of an unhappy-in-love, self-deprecating prime minister who doesn't seem to ever focus on his work. finally a politician i can relate to.

liam neeson trying to bond with his stepson was moving, i'm sorry. encouraging him to break the law to make some desperate gesture at the airport was bad. but he knew the kid needed a parent and he took it seriously and i'm not going to be a stone in the face of that.

i like the idea that you can just "fall in love" randomly, like colin firth does with the person who doesn't speak english. my experience has not pointed in the direction of that being real, but it's a good hollywood myth.

january jones the hauntingly robotic shark conservation activist is a national treasure.

I have no idea since I will never see this movie (and indeed was blissfully unaware of its existence prior to this morning) but yes me too

― Οὖτις, Thursday, December 20, 2018 4:52 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what the hell kind of person doesn't know about this movie?

said with affection. but are you actually serious?

Lol not going to defend this again because I don’t care enough to get into it but this is 100% otm

More Christmas movies should feature Rodrigo Santoro in his tighty-blackies.

― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Thursday, December 20, 2018 3:54 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i never understood why things fell apart for good between her and laura linney. you can have a disabled family member and also a boyfriend or so i thought.

*him and laura linney

Yeah they never really explained it other than that one night was their only shot and he couldn’t handle the brother. That always bothered me too. Also, why are LL in England in the first place? Don’t think they ever explained that.

maybe she originally was going to do an access but was bad at it?

*accent

but are you actually serious?

of course I am. I am blissfully unaware of a lot of things. idk what inescapable venues would have forced my exposure, it's not like anybody I know likes British romcoms or that it was winning a bunch of awards/getting rave reviews or had anybody or anything even remotely interesting about it that would have gotten my attention

interesting. i feel like it's a reference point people come back to.

it was a big movie. i went to see it, knowing it was gonna be cutesy and artificial and forced but also maybe a little funny and feel-good and charming, but it was all the former revved up to grotesque levels and none of the latter at all

is there a good post-1990 romantic comedy in the view of ilx?

In the view of ILX nothing is good you sweet summer child

i rewatched sleepless in seattle recently and it is pretty awful

how the fuck did this movie not get forgotten and thrown into the abyss where it belongs

what the fuck

Top of my head America's Sweethearts is pretty good

Eternal Sunshine?

is there a good post-1990 romantic comedy in the view of ilx?

According to us, Groundhog Day, Clueless, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Defending Your Life, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, High Fidelity, Enough Said, Sleepless in Seattle, There's Something About Mary, Muriel's Wedding, and Show Me Love.

that one is a stretch. it's an experimental magical realist/science fiction film. xp

is there a good post-1990 romantic comedy in the view of ilx?

I would rate (and I know a few of these rank high with at least a few others here):

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
40 Year Old Virgin
There's Something About Mary
Down With Love
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Knocked Up (altho tbf I don't find the "love story" in this remotely convincing, but it is p funny)

xp

Eternal Sunshine is *absolutely* a romcom! It's a movie with a central romantic will-they/won't-they conundrum that follows the typical romcom plot structure (boy meets girl/boy loses girl/boy gets girl back) and there are joeks

those are all either sophisticated and postmodern or else lean more toward comedy than romance.

Meet the Parents is great but yeah more com less rom

Yeah a lot of those movies stretch the definition of romcom imo but that's genre definitions for ya

those are all either sophisticated and postmodern or else lean more toward comedy than romance.

ok so you want unsophisticated, stale and unfunny romances that ppl around here thought were good

I'll have to get back to you

nv my man

Also, why are LL in England in the first place? Don’t think they ever explained that.

...

lol

why is anyone in England

Does 10 Things I Hate About You count or is it too far into the teen category?

There have been some good almost-straight-to-Netflix rom coms I've enjoyed - Seeing Other People, What If w/ Harry Potter

i wish my life was more like a formulaic rom com and less like a refreshingly/bleakly irreverent twist on the rom com

still hate this movie

what the hell kind of person doesn't know about this movie?

― Trϵϵship

old people

i am old

movie came out in 2003 when there was still horses and buggies and the beatles were on the ed sullivan show

was preoccupied with my nervous breakdown that year, wasn't paying a lot of attention to the hot romantic comedies

this movie is fine. I don't know why people hate it

nah

I was thoroughly bored with the movie only.

Oh sorry, that was meant for the A STAR IS BORN thread.

Down With Love is great

i just read the wikipedia--never saw it. looks good.

Top of my head America's Sweethearts is pretty good

― Driving Drone for Christmas (Noodle Vague), Thursday, December 20, 2018 4:17 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i agree with this!

a movie i think is probably bad in most senses but has some kind of strange power over me, as it is two movies in one and is therefore some kind of formulaic rom com opus: the holiday

love actually is completely reprehensible ofc

I've never seen it. I don't know what it's about. I just don't remember it being a touchstone until recently. never thought it would be a movie people would return to every year. just strange. though isn't that the case for many famous holiday movies?

I have a perverse desire to rewatch When Harry Met Sally because I remember liking it at one point but that might have been before I was in possession of whatever arguable simulacrum of taste I now possess.

I have never felt even the tiniest twinge of desire to see Love Actually. Isn't it basically the precursor of all those awful holiday-themed all-star ensemble romcoms like New Years Day and Valentine's Day and Arbor Day and Presidents' Day?

Like I will watch 100 Lifetime and Hallmark movies before I subject myself to the wacky formula Hollywood seems to have settled on for the modern day romcom. I sorta half-saw maybe half an hour of that fucking The Holiday movie the other day and jesus fuck. Jesus. Ugh. No.

you’re the one asking us if a Richard Curtis screenplay was the precursor to 100 Hallmark films (or possibly Garry Marshall features), I think we’re more likely to have not seen the latter

is there a good post-1990 romantic comedy in the view of ilx?

punch drunk love duh

i wish my life was more like a formulaic rom com and less like a refreshingly/bleakly irreverent twist on the rom com

i don't even know what kind of argument this is, some of the original all-time great romcoms like It Happened One Night or The Philadelphia Story are all zingers and irreverence, what you seem to be pining for is just bad roms

a lifestyle goal i am not unsympathetic to tbf

some people here in the UK love 'Love Actually', actually. i have colleagues who are like 'OMG how can you not LOVE IT????'
i judge harshly

even if it wasn't outrageously misogynistic it's as shoddily written as The Room yet also really fucking smug

i think Curtis's performative Britishness is one of the top things i hate about him and his work

lawd luv a duck how can you say that about the guvnor

He has actually written a brilliant British Christmas film that never gets shown but I watch it every year.
Cameos, Rowan Atkinson playing a bastard, magic, the lot.

There are so many movies that are worse. I don’t generally like rom coms. The Holiday bored me to the point that I had to turn it off and I’ve never even seen “You’ve Got Mail” but I don’t hate this one. Yes it’s problematic but so are a lot of things.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

noooo!

is that The Tall Guy kinder? i liked that at the time, don't trust my memory now

I’m sorry!! As said earlier I haven’t watched it in a few years but I think it’s fine and quite sweet and to me the worst part is the fact that they make fun of not at all fat MM. That always made me mad.

I might feel differently if I watched it now, I don’t know.

It is kind of insane that there are people who’ve never heard of it though. I feel like it’s been hugely popular and talked about since it came out which has to be a while ago now.

xps nope
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk5NzkwMzI5MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzQ4NDA0MQ@@._V1_UY268_CR3,0,182,268_AL_.jpg

lol ok missed that one

It's on YouTube, get cracking!
'Santa smells funny'

so I switched the tv on the other day and Love Actually was on so I watched 3 mins and it was the bit where the Kris Marshall 'character' was serving canapes at a wedding and accidentally slagging off the food to the (female) chef, in an admittedly mildly amusing-if-you-haven't-seen-it-100-times-before exchange, who's not too impressed.

He then goes off to his mate and complains that British women are all stuck-up. I honestly can't tell if we're meant to agree with him and therefore find his later actions justified or find it funny that he's so misguided/ entitled. I had to switch it off then because I couldn't take any more shitty characterisation.

some people here in the UK love 'Love Actually', actually. i have colleagues who are like 'OMG how can you not LOVE IT????'
i judge harshly

Same, plus my family, so I’m always delighted when I see other people who hate it. That Alan Rickman/Emma Thompson storyline is incredibly grim and feels really out of place.

I also really hate Kris Marshall and that whole plot line, just shit, lazy and lols all British women are stuck up so I have to go to America where the women are stupid enough to be charmed by my accent and ignore everything else about me, I cannot.

Quite a lot of it is grim, some of it knows it (which is a saving grace)

Gregor Fisher & Bill Nighy > Alan Rickman & Emma Thompson > Laura Linney > Martin Freeman & Joanna Page > Liam Neeson & Thomas Sangster & Claudia Schiffer > Hugh Grant & Martine McCutcheon & Billy Bob Thornton > Keira Knightly & Chiwetel Ejiofor & Andrew Lincoln > Colin Firth > Kris Marshall > Rowan Atkinson, this is canonical, I don't make the rules.

Where this slips from good to bad is personal taste, shamefully for me it's between Hugh Grant and Keira Knightly.

Oh God how did I fail to mention the whole Andrew Lincoln subplot, what the fuckkkkk

"Bugger ye off". Bernard and the genie was a childhood favourite, I wore out my tv taping of that one. Don't know how it would hold up now.

It's great. It has the black character using magic to speak his mind to members of the police to their faces, in the strongest terms a family bbc tv movie would allow.
loads of early 90s nostalgia. a great song. Blackadder-style insults.
I would urge ilx to watch it but I know you'd all ruin it.

the song is the soundtrack; it's not a musical

tt keeps threatening to show me this for some reason

https://media.giphy.com/media/ctNDHBFSj10XlVSfNv/giphy.gif

It me.

is there a good post-1990 romantic comedy in the view of ilx?

punch drunk love duh

yes it is bad

folks, it's bad

it has many good moments

the best moment was when it was over

I have a friend who has a tradition of watching this every year with her friends. My wife is one of them but does not stick around for the whole thing, because it is loooooooong. And stupid. Though prolly no more than other overlit rom-coms.

the lighting is fine throughout the film

the scenes with the sisters are great, mary lynn rajskub is always a treat, then there's PSH though his character is obnoxious, finally Emily Watson who doesn't love some Emily Watson

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says 'the lighting is fine throughout the film'

You were tempting me to see Love Actually because I like all of those actors and then I realized you weren't actually talking about Love Actually.

Love, Actually is a real dumb title.

Romance, Perhaps?

Yeah it was Punch Drunk Love actually

I've seen about 5 still from L,A in the past 2 days and every one makes me want to defenestrate my laptop, the kid drumming, the wedding goers playing trumpets or trombones or w/e in the pews BLECHHHHHHH

stills

I love the music, the visual interludes by Jeremy Blake, some funny moments ("Barry, I'm a dentist"). And Sandler is fantastic, but when I rewatched it his character was so much less sympathetic, particularly when he destroys the restaurant bathroom.

punch drunk love is a fiasco

"is there a good post-1990 romantic comedy in the view of ilx?"

About A Boy? Dunno about anyone else but I love that film unreservedly and it's 10x better than Love ACtually. bonus loose Christmas associations.

don't know if it counts as a romantic comedy either.

oh also am I the only person who has come to the conclusion that Hugh Grant is actually gay? Is it an open secret? It came to me like an epiphany.

I didn't watch it, but heard good things about The Big Sick.

xp What makes you think so?

oh also am I the only person who has come to the conclusion that Hugh Grant is actually gay? Is it an open secret? It came to me like an epiphany.

is that why he gets blowjobs from female prostitutes?

xpost Notting Hill? Same screenwriter, but iirc was OK.

The Big Sick was good!

xp

Will stan for PSL until I die tbh (although I haven’t watched it in like six years):

- the music
- the colours (I thought it was gorgeous)
- mattress man ffs
- the scene where they meet and kiss in silhouette and the world jolts into life around them
- the way Sandler’s character feels like the flip side too any of his previous characters (that quote about “all comedy starting with anger”)
- the incorporation of the pudding air miles scheme, which is based on a true story and is amazing
- the whole thing being from the perspective of Sandler but you get enough of a sense of Watson to imagine she’s just as much of a freak
- The sisters, good God.

agreed those are all great, though my biggest takeaway this year was how paperthin & underdeveloped Watson's character was

that's a good point though about Watson, I think that idea could've used some expanding

Will stan for PSL until I die tbh

me too

https://globalassets.starbucks.com/assets/2bbf214e23d846b18452befd26b975df.jpg

Yeah, I think she does a lot for a character that you get a sense of but could have been written more.

xp omg I made several phone typos in that post and want to die

Philip Seymour Laffman

I think I mostly liked PDL the first time I saw it and then I kinda disliked it the second time and then really liked it a lot the time after that, maybe that's the hallmark of a great film when you come right down to it.

I thought this was a delightful example of squishy hearted goodness when I was a junior in high school

pdl bad, unwatchably bad

hancock a better romantic comedy than most listed

Oh god no

it swept me along like a good rom-com should, despite my h8 for the two leads

should i poll hancock vs. hitch or would i be banned

if it's the secret key to a permanent ban that's actually tempting

Another vote that PDL is bad. Has always been bad.

Post 1990s rom coms? There are a lot. This would be harder if we talked about post 2000s.

the 90s seems like the golden age of the 90s-style rom com. i was wondering if ilx would ride for any tom hanks/meg ryan type movies.

i have achieved enlightenment via this post

i feel like you've got mail is more disturbing than people realize. for meg ryan, being open to love meant acquiescing to the inevitable expansion of corporations and giving up on the business she inherited from her mother.

it's like the little mermaid for college educated new yorkers

I probably saw My Best Friend's Wedding twenty times as a kid, since it was one of the few VHS's we had at the cottage. That was enough 90s rom-com for me.

Dracula = best 90s romcom

PDL is good, it's this thread that's bad

why are all of these popular rom coms so overwhelmingly white?! i think that is underlying part of what i just baseline dislike about "rom coms" in general.

PDL is ilx canon. pls do not post here if you think it's " bad "

see also: SPRING BREAKERS

and bad santa

Dracula = best 90s romcom

The age gap is a little questionable though

does anyone like 500 days of summer? the soundtrack wasn't bad but i don't remember anything about the movie except ringo was JGL's favorite beatle. or maybe zooey's favorite beatle.

Dracula = best 90s romcom

― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, December 22, 2018 10:06 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

spring breakers is a classic film but obviously has nothing to do with rom coms.

my best friend’s wedding is... enjoyable iirc but the main character is an outrageous asshole, even moreso than your usual romcom protagonist

it is ilx canon. PDL is also ilx canon

xp

I do still love Dracula, having also seen that twenty times as a kid.

anything with keanu reeves is a rom com

com yes, i'll buy that

Wonder if this is any good.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/Destination_Wedding.png

"Check your baggage" is a great, great tagline.

The tagline makes it fully pitched as a horror film.

I remember Forgetting Sarah Marshall being a passably good rom com, but would need to revisit.

500 Days of Summer afaicr is endless smug Smiths references and the best bit was the long IKEA advert in the middle. There was so little story or anything, and the characters were utterly detestable. And yet, Love Actually is somehow still watchable for me - the vignettes are compellingly terrible.

I'll see your Smiths and raise you a Belle and Sebastian!

fyi tt is about to force me to watch some prince and the pauper cover version w/ vanessa hudgens playing both princess and pauperette

so that's my evening

I think I watched that—not bad.

They have just landed in the mythic mountain kingdom of Belgravia. Shit is about to go down

I approve of forcing imago to watch Love Actually.

"We have to be in Wembley by noon!"

omg hudgens' english accent!

haha her deliberately bad pauperette's english accent is better than the real princess' english accent

'pauperette' shd obv be 'middle class suburbanite'

having fun tho

I wish I was watching that. I’m at a poetry reading.

Condolences, treeship. 90% of the poets I've heard reading their own work fall into two categories: those who read everything in an unnatural monotone-attempting-ethereal voice, or those who read everything much too vehemently, like they are applying electrical paddles to a poem suffering from heart failure.

perhaps we should....trade places

actually I probably prefer this to your average poetry reading too

My husband (who hasn't seen the film either) tells me the film has a significant gay following, so I'm now wondering what's up with that. Not only does it look very boringly hetero to me, there was apparently even a lesbian romance that was cut from the film.

Big among gays that hate women mebbe? Idk

xpost Destination Wedding was miserable and I really love Keanu and Winona. The Princess Switch was meh. I have seen every single one of these mfers.

The Netflix budget for these princess movies are oddly whack. The costumes are all Anne Taylor Loft and the extras are hilarious to watch. But the second Christmas Prince movie has Ursa from Superman in it.

The Princess Switch was charming and ridiculous and I loved it.

Crazy Rich Asians was really good and infinitely rewatchable and actually has an attractive male lead.

i don't like rich people

you only like princesses.

yeah, royalty have a divine right to their riches obv. all of my opinions are completely consistent.

xxxp YES! And I really loved the mahjong scene and the cast was really great and attractive and well-suited. The cinema I saw it in gasped when Charlie Wilson (Harry Shum Jr) made an appearance in the credits.

wow I completely forgot about (500 Days Of) Summer - that's how the title was stylized right? - such a relic of its time.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is fucking awesome and its pseudo sequel Get Him to the Greek is just as good if not better. gotta revisit those soon.

Get Him To The Greek sucks, FSM is wonderful

^^^

no way, Puffy is incredible in that movie

I mainly just remember Jason Segal’s character’s amazing artistic accomplishment in FSM.

get me to the Greek is straight cheeks

the nude breakup scene in FGM is all time

Forgetting Garry Marshall?

this was on tonight at prime time on a main UK tv channel.
it has become a 'thing' again this year.
still not seen it.
I have been assured by people I love that I really should as its very funny.
However, I cannot get beyond so many aspects of it, and I don't want to fall out with people I love by hating this film from a position of knowledge.
i.e it's easier just to have never seen it.

lol Fuck xp

mark e it's shit and unfunny and the best thing is definitely to not watch it

I think people just like having it on tv because you don't really have to pay attention to it.

feels about right

Was absolutely shocked to find out 500 Days came out in 2009 and not 2002.

Mmm, sounds about right

I had a bad hangover today and some people at work have been saying all week this is a film I should watch as it is entertaining fluff, so I loaded this up thinking it would be thoughtless distraction to get me through the evening.

This film is terrible and I am truly stunned by how horrible and misogynistic it was. I will never be able to comprehend the diversity of human life that allows people to consider this film entertaining, a film which features a woman who is essentially punished for having a disabled brother and not being subservient to a man's sexual urges.

truly hated the storyline with the lad going to America, in 2024 we would call him an Andrew Tate fanboy and the gender/sexual/national politics of that was as abhorrent as it was badly written.

oh yeah, this is one of the worst movies of all time; the only way to watch it is to hate-watch with a group of people who are on board with how bad it is.

have you read the Lindy West review?

https://www.jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388

Love Actually is bad actually, always has been.

my boyfriend had watched it 20-odd years ago when it was first released and said he couldn't really remember much of it but he was sure it was bad in a fun campy way. He said that tonight he was more entertained watching my reactions of disgust and horror. I should have known this film would not be for me when the jump-scare of a full church playing a Beatles cover happened in the first ten minutes.

also there are like 500 mini-plots going on and not a single LGBTQ+ person? In a film soundtracked by Girls Aloud, Sugababes and Kelly Clarkson?

My mom loved it, I don't know anymore. It did inspire a wider knowledge of Joni Mitchell's excellent new version of "Both Sides Now."

I'm really interested in what non-Brits made of Martine McCutcheon who played Natalie. She was a major character in Eastenders in the late 90s, at a time when the show was regularly getting 10-15 million viewers. Her character Martine was the cliche tragic heroine, a sweetheart who was battered by her husband and killed off in a Xmas car crash. In real life, the actress had quit to pursue a pop career which was initially successful, with a debut chart-topping single and a string of hits in its wake. But it still seemed odd that she got a major role in a film opposite Hugh Grant. She's got a reputation as being difficult to work with and her career has waned considerably.

"The review for Love, Actually was merely a two-word review which simply read "Shit, Actually."

i still love the “christmas lobster”

I remain pissed at this movie. The poster board guy is one of film history’s most loathsome romantic characters.

This film is terrible and I am truly stunned by how horrible and misogynistic it was. I will never be able to comprehend the diversity of human life that allows people to consider this film entertaining, a film which features a woman who is essentially punished for having a disabled brother and not being subservient to a man's sexual urges.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about how bad this movie is for the past 24 hrs. I've only seen about 30 non-Lifetime movies in my life so I'm not going to pretend to be some cinephile expert but it's genuinely amazed me that megastars and major talents of the era signed on to take part in this, and it has such a massive enduring legacy.

About a third of the movie can be summed up as: the lad from My Family is an incel who goes overseas to meet women he doesn't respect, and two awkward people have their nipples out. So, even if you're not troubled by the wildly regressive sexual politics of the film, it's still just really boring and uneventful for a lot of it. I'm looking forward to going into the office this week and seeing if any of my team will be able to convince me why this movie is good, actually.

When this came out on DVD, I (English guy) was living in Prague and embarking on my first proper adult relationship, she (American) was sharing a flat with three English people, they had all been on a TEFL-training course together I think, and they weren't really friends, one girl from Manchester was pretty openly hostile towards her, thought she was weird (she was! she was fucking amazing and weird!) Anyway I joined them to watch this in the flat and it was a bad idea, I and my girlfriend hated every minute of it, the English flatmates thought it was cosy fun or sth. Kris Marshall's storyline (English loser goes to America because he thinks American girls just love guys with English accents, he flies there, goes to a bar, flies back with four very attractive women in tow, THAT'S LITERALLY HIS ENTIRE STORYLINE!) was particularly embarrassing for obvious reasons. It was a crap night. We broke up six months later for reasons unrelated to the film Love Actually, took me ages to get over her, we kept in touch from time to time, her back in the states, me in China, and she died in a car crash in 2020. So for me this film is not just unutterable shit, it's tied to a cascade of painful memories, and even the mention of it makes me a little sad.

Genuinely intrigued by

I've only seen about 30 non-Lifetime movies in my life...

where I grew up the nearest cinema was miles and miles away, until they built one a bit nearer us in a retail park, but to get to either you needed to either ride a bus and then walk for at least a mile, or you had to have a car and someone in the house who could drive it. We rented videos from the corner shop but they only had a dozen that weren't wholly innappropriate for children, which is why I've seen Problem Child 2 more than anyone ever needed to. I never really felt like I missed out - I enjoyed TV shows more than movies when I was young, and really I was more into playing video games with the sound turned off so I could listen to actual music. The cinema is expensive, you can't talk over it like you can at home, and I'd always rather have money for gigs and clubs.

As an adult with enough bleak stuff orbiting my life, I don't want to watch prestige dramas that upset me. I'm sure It's A Sin is great television and everyone who told me to watch it is right to think it would be relevant to my interests but there is nothing "fun" about 60 minute chunks of misery, and "fun" is what I'm looking for when I'm at a loose end. I really enjoyed the first few episodes of Pose and then suddenly everyone was talking about HIV, and while it was moving and powerful I just didn't want to try to unwind with it. Whereas you know you're getting campy, mindless nonsense when you sit down to Lifetime movies like Psycho Yoga Instructor, and you can get stuff done in the advert breaks too.

CaAL, thank you for sharing your story about her. It's very sad but I also think she sounds wonderful, based on the impact she clearly had on you and your life.

Can't watch Problem Child 2 enough, the peak of the trilogy

I like Laura Linney's little dance.

https://ew.com/thmb/DomTODqiByrNkYc71dCESPNMuZs=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/love-actually-laura-linney-b917607c25dd460bae5e3bd4de55a4c9.jpg

It doesn't rate anywhere near the top of this movie's sins but you'll be unsurprised to hear the portrayal of the Portuguese community in this is not great.

(English loser goes to America because he thinks American girls just love guys with English accents, he flies there, goes to a bar, flies back with four very attractive women in tow, THAT'S LITERALLY HIS ENTIRE STORYLINE!)

Yes, the thing about this storyline is beyond its offensiveness it's also NOT A STORY. Dude decides to do thing, does thing, it works.

from the famous Jezebel article which has almost certainly been posted ITT

This old French woman shows up at Chateau de Firth and is like, “Here, I found you a lady. I’m literally giving you this lady.” Score! Free lady! The lady is named Aurelia and she only speaks Portuguese, and so does her entire family, apparently, even though all of them live in France. It’s irritating.

Colin Firth falls in “love” with Aurelia at first sight, establishing Love Actually’s central moral lesson: The less a woman talks, the more lovable she is.

Colin Firth goes all the way home to London but as soon as he gets there he realizes he forgot his Portuguese sex slave on the baggage carousel or something. So he abandons Christmas dinner with his loving family and flies back to France. The one expression of genuine love in this movie and Colin Firth peaces-out to go hump a stranger.

He shows up at Aurelia’s front door and starts yelling at her father in shitty Portuguese. He’s like, “I am here to ask your daughter for her hand in marriage,” and the dad is like, “Say what!?” because he thinks Colin Firth means his other daughter, who is fat and gross, and that would obviously make no sense, because women who are slightly larger than some other women deserve to be alone forever unless they’re the size-6 kind of fake fat like Natalie. Then the dad offers to pay Colin Firth to take fat daughter off his hands. Colin Firth is like “Ew, no. I only want to purchase/marry HOT women I’ve never spoken to in my life.”

Once the truth gets sorted out, fat daughter says: “Father is about to sell Aurelia as a slave to this Englishman.”

FIRST SENSIBLE LINE ANYONE’S SAID FOR THIS ENTIRE MOVIE.

One good thing about this is it means everyone else has to suffer what people in the UK have since the 1980s: Richard Curtis' humour.

We think of Blackadder fondly and then you go back and look at it and half of it is like: this character loves sexually assaulting women and that's funny. This character is fat and ugly and that's funny. This character is stupid and that's funny. Probably all the good stuff was written by Ben Elton.

Repeat above for the Vicar of Dibley of course shudders

eltons stuff isnt funny

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/09/keira-knightley-love-actually-quite-creepy-stalkerish-cue-cards

Never seen it, but thought that's why thread was revived

i've always assumed this was terrible because of the people I know who like it having the worst taste imaginable but thsi thread has made me never want to find out for myself

the cue card guy from the trailers is why I decided not to see it

Yeah that Knightley subplot is the worst. If you fancy the woman that is in a happy relationship with your best friend what you do about that is you keep quiet and wait for it to pass, you don't fucking make it her problem. You'd think a British director would know this, God help us if there's a war.

I'm really interested in what non-Brits made of Martine McCutcheon who played Natalie. She was a major character in Eastenders in the late 90s, at a time when the show was regularly getting 10-15 million viewers. Her character Martine was the cliche tragic heroine, a sweetheart who was battered by her husband and killed off in a Xmas car crash. In real life, the actress had quit to pursue a pop career which was initially successful, with a debut chart-topping single and a string of hits in its wake. But it still seemed odd that she got a major role in a film opposite Hugh Grant. She's got a reputation as being difficult to work with and her career has waned considerably.

― boxedjoy, Saturday, 7 December 2024 bookmarkflaglink

Had to look her up as yeah, watched her a lot when I watched EastEnders in the 90s.

Sad to report she divorced her lol singer songwriter husband this year.

i wonder how much this movie has influenced 'rom-com' writing. I saw my brother in this unfortunately abysmal romantic comedy musical. it was billed as the journey of two LGBTQ+ women as they navigate relationships, trying to sell it as a progressive play, but it was basically a heteronormative comedy that even Republicans would watch in the 90s. the only reference to the lead character's bi-sexuality was them showing her breaking up with a girlfriend in a 2 minute scene, who she breaks up with after having dreams about a guy she loved but never dated 7 years ago.

she uses this as a pre-text to travel to Europe to try and find him, after not having spoken to him for 7 years, despite not knowing where he lives (not even the COUNTRY), does wind up meeting him by accident and finds out he's married, stays with him and his wife for a night, they flirt, then she leaves, claiming discomfort with everything, then leaves him a note when she leaves basically inviting him to come find her. then when he shows up to be with her romantically, she gets upset that he hasn't begun the process to divorce his wife yet, talking about her as if she was just some unfortunate object. and this was supposed to be romantic! so part of me wonders if this cue card guy was an inspiration for that musical (though from reading spoilers i know they don't wind up together, thankfully).

I've ranted abt this elsewhere but will repeat -- Hugh Grant's 9/11 line in the opening moments of the film (the line that gives the film its title!) is one of the most WTF moments in cinema history. Had to rewind it bc I truly could not believe what I'd just heard.

surprised there's not been more 9/11 related romantic comedies

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport."

What an opening line.

lol, Richard Curtis blaming democracy for the card scene:

“I was in an office and there were about four people working in the office and I said what I’m going to do today is think of four ideas and then put them to the vote.”

“I went out and said to the four people working in the office if you were being flirted with, which of these would you prefer? They definitely picked the cards. so it was a community decision.”

Never forget:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYaP2pd01_0

This thread is almost making me want to watch this film to see if it's as terrible as it sounds. Almost.

xp a truly abysmal scene for a number of reasons, and yet it would at least have tied the film together a little.

xp ha me too - I've never seen it, but it sounds so bad I am now developing morbid curiosity about it

imo, real missed opportunity to not go ahead and lop off the other 134 minutes when they edited down that scene

would be better if the movie was just that a married couple is in an argument and the lady, frustrated, throws a pie in her husband's face, there's a pause...and then he grins and says "that's love, actually!"....cue credits

lol, Richard Curtis blaming democracy for the card scene:

I like that this quote makes it seem like the cards are the problem with that scene!

xp ha me too - I've never seen it, but it sounds so bad I am now developing morbid curiosity about it

As is probably detailed upthread, the only reason I watched it in the first place was because my other half rang me to tell me he'd watched an absolute shitheap of a movie and I needed to see it to believe it.

I think he'd also been treated to some 'deleted scenes' where embarrassing internet porn popups kept appearing on someone's computer in an embarrassing way, heeheehee.