North of Normal

"Look out America, here comes Colin Frissel"

So, went to see Love Actually last night with Sam. Second time I saw it, first time for the Samster. (Give me a moment to picture Sam as one of the Hamtaro guys and giggle. There.) It's even funnier the second time around, I think. I also think that it could easily be one of those movies that I watch forty seven times and quote incessantly. I love this movie. I highly encourage everyone to go see it.

It's gotten some pretty mixed reviews, some of which have been right on the money. The movie's got some problems. First of all, it's not about love, actually (heh). It's more about infatuation, which is something else entirely. The movie skips through the course of about eight or nine couples as they come together or fall apart, and it doesn't spend a whole lot of time on any of them. Sometimes this works, but some of the storylines do feel a little skimpy--the porn standins, for example. The jumps from one storyline to another are mostly logical and just about the point when you start to wonder "hey, what about. . . " you end up right there next.

But there is something so fundamentally charming about this movie, that I can forgive it almost any flaw. It even has the dreaded "Who the hell flies to America on Christmas Eve? Who cares--if they don't do that, we don't have a plot" moment, and you all know how I feel about that. I didn't give a damn how contrived it was, that was one of the film's best sequences. There were hokey happy endings for (almost) everyone, including one that was flat out unbelievable. And I still want to see this movie AGAIN. I want to strong arm everyone I know into seeing this movie. What are you doing tomorrow night?