8. The Actually Interesting Relationships - Love Actually
The Plot: In the run-up to Christmas, Richard Curtis focuses on a dozen different relationships. The main ones though are unmistakably the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) and a member of his staff (Martine McCutcheon), a bad writer (Colin Firth) and his maid (Lucia Moniz), and an office boss (Alan Rickman) potentially cheating on his wife (Emma Thompson). Sadly, with all of these stories, there's a distinct lack of communication; Grant barely enjoys a conversation with McCutcheon as he "redistributes" her to avoid falling deeper in love, Rickman and Thompson never talk through their problems and Firth can't even speak the same language as Moniz. Is it not nonsensical for a maestro of dialogue like Curtis to waste so much script space on the words "the couple give each other sultry looks across the room"? The Subplots: Martin Freeman and Joanna Page are two body doubles for the sex scenes in a film, who find love through their awkward jobs; that's a story that Curtis's brilliantly British charm is perfect for. Similarly, Liam Neeson's relationship with his step-son Thomas Sangster would make a wonderful plot, and Neeson's relationship with Emma Thompson's character is unique. These are all stories that take on real developments, and they're all compromised in favour of the Hollywood romances. We don't even find out why Andrew Lincoln loves Keira Knightley so much when he never speaks to her. It's one of the weirder relationships, granted, but it's just one avenue that would've been preferable to Hugh Grant dancing around Downing Street.
