Rating: Summary: Excellent movie! Review: Being an anglophile, I had to see this movie set in England with my favorite British stars, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. It did not disappoint! It is such a nice story about love in all its forms. Several individual stories are going on at the same time, and the writer does a nice job of linking them to each other. One story, about a widowed father trying to bond with his son, is particularly heartwarming. The young son is going through his own heart troubles, having fallen in love with the most popular girl at school. Another minor storyline is about a couple of actors whose job it is to stand in for porn stars while the director is setting up the shot. This story is, in my opinion, the only thing that keeps this movie from being appropriate for the whole family. All the actors are superb, and the story is excellent. I highly recommend this movie.
Rating: Summary: Worth buying for Hugh Grant fans Review: If you like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, this DVD is actually worthy buying, not just renting. It is actually a better movie than I had expected based on the reviews, and the commentary by Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant (as well as Bill Nighy and the child actor Thomas Sangster) is excellent: perhaps actually more entertaining than the movie itself and extremely informative. It's worth it just to hear Hugh Grant make snide remarks about Colin Firth (actually very amusing). Also interesting to learn that one of the scenes in this movie had actually been originally written for Four Weddings and a Funeral. The deleted scenes on the DVD are also actually very interesting. The movie was actually editted down from an original 3 1/2 hours. If Curtis had been allowed to actually release all the junk he had filmed it might have actually ruined his career (the original climax with Thomas Sangster doing elaborate acrobatics at Heathrow is awful, actually).
Rating: Summary: sucked, actually Review: a bitter disappointment. like getting coal for christmas. the plot was flatter than the DVD itself, and the characters were cliches with british accents.
Rating: Summary: Not feeling it. Review: I love all the actors in this movie but I just didn't believe any of the characters loved each other. (Except perhaps Liam Neisen and the kid) Also,despite there being a child in the film, DO NOT let your kids see this movie! (...) There were a few bright shiney bits in this movie, but overall, the characters were so hastily drawn that most of them didn't feel authentic at all. A good rental, but I am sort of sorry I bought it.
Rating: Summary: Puh-leeease Review: Insipid, unromantic, implausable are the mildest terms to describe this utterly uninspired piece of dreck. Leaving matters of the heart, emotional honesty and intimacy to the British is tantamount to relying on the Germans to pump out comedies. The movie is painful to watch. They have dragged every name UK actor out of a deep coma to sleepwalk through their roles. If this is the best Britain has to offer then please, don't bother. The inane political subplot is so insulting and simplistic it is a wonder that adults wrote this garbage.
Rating: Summary: Robert Altman Actually Review: As annoying as any Altman flick. Don't waste your time or money. Snippy little stories all tied together by platitudes about love, xmas, etc. Particually annoying are the aging rock star, the little orphaned kid and the porno stars. Colin Firth is fat and boring, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman are totally wasted and why is Kiera Knightly wasting her precious youth on this kind of drivel? Hugh Grant and Billy Bob Thorton are the only redeeming features and they are not on long enough. Soundtrack tries desperately to make up for pathetic script.
Rating: Summary: Good times Review: This is a great date-flick! I even took my girlfriend's parents to see it, awwwww. Billy Bob Thornton as the president is hilarious. But with Hugh Grant as the prime minister, one gets the feeling "haven't I seen this performance and story before?" The other tales are much more entertaining. A bit on the cheesy side, especially with the inclusion of arrival gate scenes, but still the best feel-good film in a while.
Rating: Summary: Great Lovestory Review: I really liked this movie. It shows how peoples lives are intertwined with friendship, love and romance. Great movie.
Rating: Summary: Is there room for a simply sweet movie? Review: I think so. And this one fits the bill. Several stories twine and intertwine throughout, and even those that border on the expected are played with such charm and grace -- as well as a few little twists that embellish the story -- that they are easily forgiven. Surprise cameos are a delight. Among the extras on the DVD are a few deleted scenes, with commentary by director Richard Curtis. As a sidebar, he notes that the film originally ran closer to 3 hours, 45 minutes, but he had to cut 80 minutes or so to get the film into commercial length for theatres. Usually deleted scenes are best left that way, for any one of a number of reasons. However, almost without exception, the deleted scenes here would have, I think, added greatly to the fun of the movie. And in the end, that's what this movie is -- fun -- and a surprising pleasure. (Would love to see a cut that ran the full 3 hrs 45!) Definitely not just a chick flick. Recommended without hesitation for all adults!
Rating: Summary: under-rated Review: I was not expecting much when I saw this last night, based on reviews upon the movie's release. I was more than pleasantly surprised. Not every storyline has verisimilitude; some of the humor is sophomoric (not a problem for me). Yet I thought it explored all types of love -- the romantic ideal (Liam Neesan's story line), the unrequited (Keira Knightley), familial (Laura Linney), sexual (the guy who goes to Wisconsin), the long-term fraying relationship (Emma/Rickman), the improbable (Hugh Grant), the pure-of-heart (the two body doubles), love-between-friends (Billy) and the redemptive love (Colin Firth) -- with a seriousness and a real-ness (aside from the sometimes hokey plot devices). (...), I saw a truthfulness in each of the storylines. I could directly relate to several of them. I can't believe that anyone who has known some sort of love couldn't do the same. The acting was very good across the board, the writing was top notch for a major commercial release, it was never boring for two and a half hours, and it blended the comic with the serious in a way that never felt forced to me.
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