3. When Confronted With An Offer Of Sex, Drugs & Rock & Roll, True Friends Give It All Up To Comfort You
True friends in Bill Nighy's situation at the end of Love Actually would not have a crisis of conscience and come back to spend Christmas with you watching porn, even if you've known them for ever and aren't a somewhat repugnant, portly man who drinks too much. If you think they will, you're facing a stark revelation, whether they're international number one selling artists or van drivers from Scunthorpe. Come to think of it, true friends wouldn't ask their friends to consider missing out on an opportunity to get incredibly drunk and celebrate after years of obscurity and a presumable lack of high quality conquests.
2. Looking After Disabled Family Members Is Terrible
Probably the most distasteful revelation to take is that Laura Linney's character Sarah is basically dumped by her long-term crush because her mentally disabled brother has the audacity to require attention during an attempted sexual coup. Instead of understanding and asking to rearrange the date, Rodrigo Santoro's Karl instead calls the whole sorry thing off. Because that sort of caring definitely shouldn't be encouraged when it gets in the way of sex, obviously. And even worse, as an audience we're encouraged to believe that Sarah is getting what she should expect, and that she should feel guilty for even trying to have a life, no matter how tragic it is.
1. Airport Security Will Tolerate Flagrant Disregard For Protocol, In The Name Of Love
When Sam goes to declare undying love for his American class-mate (who it apparently turns out was only going home for Christmas and not leaving forever as he suspected) he ignores all manner of airport security protocols and basically acts in a way that would probably get you shot if you tried it in a major European airport. The security guards make comically bad attempts at stopping him, but none tries particularly hard, considering he could be a miniature terrorist, and he's just circum-navigated all of the incredibly well-planned security designed to keep all undesirables out. Did you miss any other odd and irresponsible messages in Love Actually? Does knowing that it's been out for ten years make you feel cripplingly old? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.