Frankly, for a romantic comedy, Love Actually is pretty light on the comedy. My biggest issue with the film however, is the fact that for its 135 minute running time, it has way too many story lines and cannot fully develop its characters. Some of them may have a personality quirk or a personality trait, but not a personality. Out of the nine or ten stories (which by the way, leaves about 13.5 minutes to one storyline - less, when you take in the credits) at least half could've easily been cut, and the others could have been more developed and linked to each other in a stronger way. In fact, Love Actually would've probably worked way better as a TV show.
That said, this was the movie that introduced me to the idea of an ensemble cast and interlinked storylines and ever since, I've loved the concept. But upon watching it a second time I realised that this motif of the film it's barely there. Some of the characters are connected in a way (e.g. Emma Thompson's character is married to Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant's sister), but mostly there is just a very feeble connection that's been stuck there at the end, if at all.
I watched Love Actually the first time when I was about ten, and I remember that I didn't really like it back then either. As the years passed, I thought it was because I was too young for it and I missed the ending, but now, I have to say that I was right back then. The movie has a lot of heart and it's nice to watch around Christmas, but it's not that great. My advice is, if you happen upon it around the winter holidays on TV, don't change the channel, but don't spend any money on it.
