Love Actually

If you want to be cynical, you can take the measure of this ensemble film by its weakest elements. The sappy opening narration, insufferable child actor Thomas Sangster and the overlong running gag about a pair of movie stand-ins going through the increasingly naked and explicit motions of blocking a very steamy sex scene while making shy, getting-to-know you small talk come to mind. But why be churlish when so many fine actors are committing their considerable talents to a generally sharply crafted series of interconnected stories that illustrate love in all its forms — rapturous, unrequited, selfish, fledgling, duplicitous, foolish and imperiled — and sets them all...