Love Actually A Good Start to the Holiday Season

2003's Love Actually told the story of nine different relationships in London. Starting off five weeks before Christmas and slowly moving towards the holidays, will everyone find love during the festive season?

Yes, there are NINE different scenarios happening during the film. The first is with England's new Prime Minister (Hugh Grant). While trying to adjust to the ins and outs of things and a run in with the U.S. President (Billy Bob Thornton), he becomes intrigued with Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), who works in the office.

We're also introduced to Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) and his manager, Joe (Gregor Fisher). Billy is an aging rock star who is looking for a comeback by remaking one of his songs into a holiday tune. Much to the dismay of Joe, Billy decides to be brutally honest about everything when appearing on radio and TV shows while promoting the song.

Daniel (Liam Neeson) is in a different predicament. Daniel's wife has just passed away leaving him alone with young son Sam (Thomas Sangster). Although Daniel has a fascination with Claudia Schiffer, it's Sam who finds himself head over heels in love with a schoolmate. With Daniel's help, Sam decides to win her over by impressing her.

Daniel's friend (and the Prime Minister's sister), Karen (Emma Thompson) also has difficulties. Karen is trying to cope with the daily routines of family life where her days are filled with making costumes for her children's school recital while her husband, Harry (Alan Rickman), fights various temptations that face him at work.

Another scenario is the love triangle of Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Mark (Andrew Lincoln). When Peter marries Juliet it's obvious that Mark has a certain dislike for her. Or does he?

One of the people in attendance at the wedding of Peter and Juliet is Jamie (Colin Firth). When he returns home he discovers the awful truth about his brother and girlfriend. He leaves and goes to a house in the country where he can work on his novel. He soon strikes up a friendship with his Portuguese housekeeper, Aurelia (Lucia Moniz). Unfortunately Aurelia and Jamie do not speak the other's language.

Sarah (Laura Linney) works in the same office as Harry and is secretly (but everyone knows about it) in love with her co-worker, Karl (Rodrigo Santoro). Sarah has her hands full, however, with her brother who is in a nearby hospital and demands her constant attention. Will Sarah and Karl be able to find love?

Colin (Kris Marshall), a server at Peter's and Juliet's wedding, has come up with the perfect plan to find women. He's decided to travel to the United States (Wisconsin) where he's sure he will have no problem finding a female companion. John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) meet while spending time on a film set together. Their job? Adult movie stand-ins.

I had heard from people who had liked and disliked Love Actually before seeing the movie. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It had elements of different movies (comedy, drama, romance and even a little music) all rolled into one. There was also equal screen time to develop each story and to see it through to the finale.

The entire cast was excellent. Laura Linney's performance was heart wrenching as you saw Sarah being pulled between what she thinks she needs to do (take care of her brother) and what her heart is telling her to do (pursue Karl). Bill Nighy was also hilarious as the rock star that just doesn't care one way or another anymore. And for Hugh Grant fans, the dancing sequence in the Prime Minister's home is a must see.

It's easy to see where some moviegoers may dislike the nine different stories happening at once. The first time you see this you may lose some of the details while jumping from story to story. However, if you've seen this one once, give it another try. It may take a couple of tries to see how the people in one story intertwine with the ones in other stories. I know it did for me!

Love Actually has a little bit of everything. This is definitely a good movie to kick off the holiday season with!