When Love Actually came out in theaters, I had just turned fifteen years old. My friends and I were slight anglophiles who worshipped accented singers like Robert Smith and Damon Albarn, and watched period pieces after school. The star-studded cast of Richard Curtis' Christmas film made a screening a no-brainer. Colin Firth? Hugh Grant? Alan Rickman? Emma Thompson? I mean, come on. All the big names. It was mandatory. We had to see it, so we did and boy, did we love it. Sure, some of the plotlines were a bit unbelievable, but there were so many charming, stammering "British moments."
I've since rewatched Love Actually an embarrassing number of times, chasing a dragon that definitely doesn't exist. While the movie has become a bit of a holiday cult classic for pumpkin spice-worshipping individuals, each subsequent screening has reminded me that the film is actually pretty problematic, and nobody has done a better job of summing up the madness as Twitter use George Fox (@comedyfox), who published a very brutal and very viral takedown of the movie back in 2020. If each year makes Love Actually seem increasingly out of touch, the same time passing makes Fox's "TED talk" seem more valid. I mean, Keira Knightly was 17 when filming this? Anyway. There are loads more problems where that came from. See for yourself.
