Just another ramble...

It is the tenth anniversary of the release of one of my favorite films, Love Actually. Now, it isn’t my favorite film of all time, that would be The Quiet Man or the original version of The Picture of Dorian Gray, but it is in my top ten. If you haven’t seen it, many haven’t, it’s a cute little film about love, loss, the holidays, hope and oh yeah love actually. (see what I did there). I don’t know if people are starting to rewatch it for the first time since it came out, or if they’re just rewatching for the however –th time, but it seems like there is a lot of Love Actually bashing going on. Some are calling it unrealistic, impossible, and cheesy, this could all be true, but……it’s a film. It’s escapism. I don’t think there is a film out there, that is entirely realistic, not counting some documentaries and even then we’re usually getting someone’s point of view on a subject, not necessarily an unbiased view. Do these people really believe that Brad Pitt could save the world from a zombie attack, or that Will Smith can also save the world from whatever? That to me is the whole point of a film. You go in to escape mode for however briefly and you know that what you’re seeing could be impossible, (think Kevin Costner as Robin Hood), but at the same time you’re supposed to be entertained. If you spend the entire time picking apart what could or couldn’t happen, you’re missing out on a chance to get away from the actual real world and become part of another place and time. Maybe I’m too biased because it is one of my favorite films, and maybe I just don’t like people picking it apart, but I think it’s bigger than that. To me Love Actually as I said earlier is about love, loss, and hope. Sure not everyone gets the love they want, but they still have hope at the end of the day. Well at least a little. If you’re watching it thinking ‘ooh that’s kind of creepy that Sarah is obsessed with Karl’, then maybe you aren’t looking close enough at Karl. He’s hot! Not only that but who hasn’t had a crush on a coworker? It happens. Then let’s address the Mark and Juliet thing. Another unrequited crush. Again, as I can definitely attest to, it happens. That’s not unrealistic or creepy. It’s just life. I’m not going to go through the whole film or blog posts and address each point. That would take forever and I’m not that persnickety. Personally I like to think that the things in the film could happen. Well, the only thing I don’t think is very realistic is the Alan Rickman cheating on Emma Thompson. Why would he do that? She’s amazing and a zillion times more beautiful and cooler than the younger chick. Plus, I’d like to think that I could have a Karl, or a Mark or even a Jamie! Mostly a Jamie I think. Colin Firth is my actor of choice. I think people in today’s world, need a little Love Actually. I’m not saying everyone should watch and love it, if it’s not your preferred genre, but just watch something that you can escape into. Something that will leave you with a feeling of hope, or a feeling of goodwill towards others. Or even a feeling of you can go out there and kick the bad guy’s ass! Whatever works for you. The real world is too full of the other stuff, too full of hate, cynicism and not love actually. All the things we see on the news and while we’re out on a daily basis. Plus it’s the holidays, we’re supposed to believe in a little bit of fantasy. If we didn’t there wouldn’t be so many Christmas films about Santa. Not saying he doesn’t exist, I’m just using him as an example. So what’s my point? I’m really not sure. I’m tired of the Love Actually bashing, yes, but I’m also tired of people taking films, and books actually, and pointing out why they aren’t. Let me just say this once more. They aren’t meant to be! They’re meant to be enjoyed for what they are. I also believe that things are as realistic as you want them to be, and if that escapism makes you happy then so be it. Let us who want to believe in Love Actually alone. Your words and picking it apart aren’t going to change that fact that we think love is all around. Even in airports, which by the way I do think are romantic. I’m just glad that as cynical and jaded as I can be, I haven’t stopped believing in things all together. I still have hope, I still have a tiny bit of faith that one day things are going to work out in the way I want them to. Maybe it won’t be like in the films, but then it wouldn’t be real life and that is what I’m looking for. Real life with a touch of magic. P.S. If you want to watch a funny Christmas film, try to find ‘A Star for Christmas’ it’s worth watching just for the line ‘I saw myself kissing you in my Universe Door.’ Or something along those lines.