Blu-ray Review: Love Actually

Release Date: November 3rd, 2009
Running Time: 135 minutes

The Film

I have been known to be a sucker for romantic comedies from time to time but there is one that clearly stands above the rest: Love Actually. An epic examination of love and the holidays featuring countless renowned actors, the film literally is the king of all romantic comedies. Though it wasn’t high up on my HD upgrade list, Love Actually comes through with a solid release that is a worthwhile purchase for fans.

The film takes place in the weeks preceding Christmas and covers numerous stories loosely linked together. With so many characters it is tough to recap, but I’ll do my best to cover the major plotlines (in no particular order). Hugh Grant plays newly elected British Prime Minister, David, who falls for one of his house staff (Martine McCutcheon). He ends up letting her go before deciding to follow his feelings, racing through the city to find her. Meanwhile his sister, Karen (Emma Thompson) suspects her husband, Harry (Alan Rickman), is cheating when she finds a necklace that he bought for his secretary. Laura Linney plays Sarah, and employee at Harry’s company, who is in love with the creative director (Rodrigo Santoro). Harry implores her to act on her feelings, but her dedication to her institutionalized brother throws a wrench in everything. In another connection, Karen’s friend, Daniel (Liam Neeson), is mourning the loss of his wife while his stepson, Sam (Thomas Sangster), is in love with an American girl named Joanna (Olivia Olson) but fears she doesn’t know he exists.

Another story follows a rocker past his prime named Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) whose goal is to get one more number one Christmas hit. He constantly berates his manager, Joe (Gregor Fisher), but eventually realizes that the holidays are about family, and Joe is the only family he has.

Keira Knightley and Chiwetel Ejiofor also star as newlyweds Juliet and Peter. Peter’s best man, Mark (Andrew Lincoln), turns out to be in love with Juliet. Jamie (Colin Firth) was planning to attend their wedding only to discover his girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) cheating on him. He heads out to a French cottage to concentrate on his work where he develops feelings for a Portuguese housekeeper (Lucia Moniz) who doesn’t speak a word of English.

There are more stories, including a British man who heads to America believing gorgeous women will swoon over his accent, and a couple who find feelings for each other while simulating sex as stand-ins. Lastly, Rowan Atkinson is the mysterious Rufus, sort of the glue of the film who plays small but important roles in the other stories.

Is Love Actually sappy? Well of course it is somewhat saccharin, it is a romantic comedy, but it has style. The energetic pace and adult storytelling (no PG-13 here), combined with the multiple narratives, make for a unique experience. Unlike most romantic comedies that are nothing like reality (ahem, The Proposal), Love Actually focuses on all the different ways love can affect people, good or bad. It is this balance of healthy and unhealthy relationships that makes the episodic stories so interesting and poignant. But such an ambitious structure would have completely failed had it not been for the amazing group of talent that is essentially the greatest hits of the genre. Hugh Grant and Liam Neeson stood out for me, and Bill Nighy is absolutely hilarious. Despite telling multiple stories of nearly two dozen characters, everything about Love Actually comes together well, resulting in one of the most epic and entertaining romantic comedies of all time.

The Disc

The video is presented in a 2.35:1, 1080p High Definition transfer that isn’t reference quality by any means but is still a good effort. Detail is sharp, particularly in close ups of textures and the actors’ beautiful faces. There are a few occasions where the image is a touch soft due to low lighting or some digital noise reduction, but in general there is a high level of detail and image depth. Crisp, vibrant colors are dominant due to Christmas decorations and clothing while black levels are consistently deep. The white levels in the snow avoid being blown at as well. Compression artifacts, print damage, or color banding are not issues.

The audio is offered in an English DTS HD 5.1 master lossless audio track and French European/German/Castilian Spanish/LA Spanish/Italian DTS 5.1 surround sound. Subtitles are offered in French European/French Canadian/Italian/German/Castilian Spanish/LA Spanish/Dutch. This is a dialogue-driven, front-loaded mix like most romantic comedies. A slight amount of atmosphere does travel to the rear speakers but they are mostly used for the soundtrack, which clearly has the most power in the mix. A few sparse scenes have noticeable acoustic recreation but nothing out of the ordinary. The clarity and detail of the sound design is all here, the subject matter just doesn’t call for anything truly aggressive.

The Extras

The selection of extra content is typical for a comedy. It’s not bare bones, but neither does the content have much substance.

Commentary is offered with Director Richard Curtis, Bill Nighy, Hugh Grant, and Thomas Sangster. This is a loose track that works because of the chemistry between them. While Curtis does touches on the technical aspects, Grant and Sangster have plenty of on-set anecdotes. Nighy is unfortunately the quietest of the bunch.

“The Storytellers” (10 minutes) is a typical promotional featurette that discusses the various characters and storylines through cast and crew interviews.

“The Music of Love Actually” (20 minutes) features video introductions with Curtis about the various song choices then shows the corresponding clip from the film. Two music videos are also offered: “The Trouble with Love Is” by Kelly Clarkson and the hilarious “Christmas Is All Around” with Bill Nighy in character.

The Deleted Scenes section contains a whopping 37 minutes of excised footage with introductions from Curtis. The original cut of the film was far longer so many of these scenes are worthwhile. However the film is long as is, so these cuts are absolutely justified.

Lastly the disc is BD-Live enabled and features My Scenes Bookmarking.

Final Thoughts

In my opinion Love Actually is one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. With a stellar cast, heartwarming stories, and a solid Blu-ray disc for the genre, this title should be on the top of every rom com fan’s HD upgrade list.