"We'll just chat our way through and slurp tea."
So begins Richard Curtis's commentary on his direction of "Love, Actually," recently released on DVD. Joined in the studio by acting heavyweights Hugh Grant and Bill Nighy (who hadn't seen the film in its completion before doing the commentary track) as well as child star Thomas Sangster, this is exactly what happens. This aspect of the DVD isn't particularly profound, but just like the film it analyzes, it strings together a series of interesting vignettes that make for an entertaining and relaxing watch.
When first released during the 2003 holiday season, "Love Actually" was the year's little romantic charmer that men were embarrassed to say they loved, until they found out that everyone else loved it as well. True, the opening and closing sequences of families in Heathrow Airport could be seen as facile or trite, but they fit the tone of the film, and made for neat bookends to a wide variety of interlaced stories.
The film weaves together the stories of several people in love in London, and follows them through the five weeks leading up to Christmas. There are moments of tears, of joy, and of laughter, but the film is successful in that it's always sweet, but rarely saccharine.
Thankfully available in widescreen format (as every film should be, by law), the film translates easily to the small screen and looks just as fine on a television as it did in theaters. The commentary, as previously noted, isn't necessarily enlightening, but provides many interesting stories and hidden factoids about the film. The most disappointing part of the commentary track is that Thomas Sangster, who stole the best moments in the film, is obviously too nervous to say much of anything and lets the big boys babble on.
But the stories shared in the commentary are quite amusing. Curtis reveals that Sangster's scene in Heathrow is actually a tribute to "The Graduate," when his character yells to the girl he loves through plate-glass and nothing can be heard; just his lips are seen moving.
Additionally, it is revealed that the film was originally three-and-a-half hours in length. To bring it down to its current length of two-and-a-quarter hours, a very substantial amount of material was cut from each of the stories in the film. Thus, as can be imagined, the deleted scenes feature on the DVD is chock full of substantial pieces of film that are absent from the final cut. These pieces are interestingly presented with commentary and clarification by Curtis, and, instead of being just extremely extraneous as deleted scenes can be on some other DVDs (just try to watch the deleted scenes on the "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" DVD), they actually add to the film and DVD-watching experience. They are perhaps more enlightening than the commentary.
The film also has a relatively interesting segment in which Curtis discusses the soundtrack. The music video of the theme song by Kelly Clarkson, though, is just filler and rather unnecessary.
"Love Actually" isn't a film that requires Criterion Collection treatment or one that necessitates a DVD dissecting it piece-by-piece for critical analysis. And this DVD doesn't do either of these things. But it does provide an interesting and useful further look into an already incessantly entertaining film.
If nothing else, it lets you see "Love Actually" again. That alone should be good enough for most.
