jambalayaval

Nobody does Shakespeare better than Kenneth Branagh, and this time, he's taken it to a whole new level. Putting together one of the Bard's best works with no money in a cold, damp church at Christmas may sound like a greater tragedy than the play itself. The frustrated actor/director, the cast composed of a band of merry misfits, Joan Collins playing an agent (!) and the god-awful ideas for unique sets and costumes only add to the already engaging tale of passion and deception that is Hamlet. You can't take it too seriously. But the script is intelligently funny, the experienced cast hits their marks, and even those who don't like Shakespeared will be entertained. It's a comedy, it's a mystery, it's a classic...all rolled into one.

What a nice change to see a leading character who's not wafer thin and perfect. Bridget Jones's flaws make her both entertaining and engaging: her inability to keep her mouth shut at the appropriate time, her inability to keep a job or to get the right one, her inability to become "the perfect woman" in the kitchen or the bedroom, her inability to make her life and her parents' lives work smoothly. Of course, we'd all like to have the dilemma of having to choose between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, and that might be the one part of this movie that's hard to get beyond. Were her boy toys just average looking, we might not feel so bad for whomever she cuts loose. My only other complaint about this movie is that the lead wasn't British (or even Australian). I can think of 10 great actresses (Helena Bonham Carter, Toni Collette, Minnie Driver, Jennifer Ehle, Catherine McCormack, Frances O'Connor, Julia Sawalha, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Kate Winslet) who would've let me focus more on the character and less on waiting for that moment when Renee Zellweger gave away her Texas roots.

It's about time someone made a romantic movie that speaks to adults. "Love Actually," with its seemingly unrelated yet interwoven tales of love, actually shows what love is like...and that it doesn't always turn out with hearts and flowers and the guy getting the girl in the end. Whether it's unrequited love, first puppy love, love for your siblings or the love that endures between people who've been together for a long time, this movie covers all the bases. And although it didn't turn out "perfectly" in the end, I laughed a lot and was left with that warm, fuzzy feeling that a good movie provides.

How wonderful that the plot included "older" couples, so often left out of today's movies about relationships and romance. And what a couple (Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson). Nice performances all around in a great story, and a holiday movie to boot!