In honor of the approaching Christmas season....
-The cast is composed of mainly British actors
-Set in London, 5 weeks before Christmas
-Played out in a countdown to the holidays with an epilogue at the end
Plot
Billy Mack and Joe
-With the help of his manager Joe(Gregor Fisher), aging rock singer Billy Mack(Bill Nighy) records a holiday version of The Trogg's song Love Is All Around. And if you watch this, and see him, who would be the first person you think of? Because when me, my dad and sis watched it, we all looked at each other and said "Keith Richards".
Juliet, Mark and Peter
-Juliet(Keira Knightley) and Peter(Chiwetel Ejiofor) are married in a ceremony videotaped by Mark(Andrew Lincoln), Peter's best buddy and best man. The video reveals that he secretly is in love with Juliet. And at the wedding, Mark reveals to Peter and Juliet a choir in the upper part of the church playing All You Need is Love, a song made famous by The Beatles.
Jamie and Aurelia
-Writer Jamie(Colin Firth) first appears preparing to attend Juliet and Peter's wedding. His girlfriend(Sienna Guillory) misses the ceremony to sleep with his brother. After finding this out, he retires to a French cottage where he meets Portugese housekeeper Aurelia(Lucia Moniz). There is an instant attraction between the 2, and later he meets Portugese and goes to propose to her.
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| This scene cracks me and my sister up so much! |
Harry, Karen and Mia
-Harry(Alan Rickman) is the manager of a design agency; Mia is his manipulative, seductive new secretary. For Christmas he buys her an expensive necklace from a jewelry saleseman named Rufus(Rowan Atkinson), who wraps the gift in a very fancy way. Elsewhere, his wife Karen(Emma Thompson) is busy dealing with her kids Daisy(Lulu Popplewell) and Bernard(William Wadham), who are appearing in the school Nativity play. Later on, when Karen finds the necklace in Harry's coat pocket, and she assumes it's for her.
David and Natalie
-Karen's brother, the recently elected British Prime Minister David(Hugh Grant) is a young and single guy. Natalie(Martine McCutcheon) is a new junior member of the house staff who helps him out. Something seems to start between them. When David walks in to find the US President(Billy Bob Thornton) trying to seduce Natalie, he is inspired to take a stand against the bullying President's policies. He has her moved to somewhere else, but then receives a card from her declaring her love for him. He visits her at her home, seeing they are on their way to the local school for a play. He drives her to the play and they watch it from backstage, and their romance is revealed when the curtain goes up and they are seen kissing.
Daniel, Sam, Joanna
-Daniel(Liam Neeson), Karen's friend, and his stepson Sam(Thomas Sangster) fend for themselves as they mourn the loss of their wife and mom. Sam has, meanwhile, fallen for an American classmate of his named Joanna(Olivia Olson). After a discussion with his stepdad, he decides to learn the drums to accompany her in the play.
Sarah, Karl and Michael
-Sarah(Laura Linney) first appears in the wedding, sitting next to Jamie. She works at a graphic design company where she has been in love with the creative director Karl(Rodrigo Santoro). Any possible chances for intimacy are interrupted by her mentally ill brother Michael(Michael Fitzgerald). On Christmas Eve, she visits her brother and wraps a scarf around him as he hugs her
-After several attempts to woo English women, Colin Frissell(Kris Marshall) informs his friend Tony(Abdul Salis) that he plans to go to the US and find love there, convinced his British accent will win him women. He lands in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and goes to a bar where he meets Stacey(Ivana Milicevic), Jeannie(January Jones) and Carol-Anne(Elisha Cuthbert), 3 beautiful woman who fall for his Basildon accent and invite him to stay with them at their home, where they are joined by their roomate Harriet(Shannon Elizabeth), who in the movie is supposed to have a thing for British guys.
John and Judy
-John(Martin Freeman) and Judy(Joanna Page) meet as body doubles for the sex scenes in a movie where Tony is a production assistant. John tells Judy that "It's nice to have someone he can chat to." While on set they are comfortable being naked and simulating sex, offscreen they are shy and quiet.
Epilogue
-The epilogue is set 1 month later, and alot of the characters seem to be in love, only 2 of the relationships are not romantic: the one of Billy Mack and his manager Joe, and Sarah and her brother Michael.
-John and Judy greet Tony, who is there to meet Colin on his way back from the US, where he returns with beautiful Harriet in tow and her younger sister Carla(Denise Richards), who immediately falls for Tony.
-Natalie is seen welcoming back David in front of cameras.
-The scenes dissolve into live action views of actual arrivals at Heathrow Airport.
Cast
Alan Rickman as Harry
Emma Thompson as Karen
Hugh Grant as David
Keira Knightley as Juliet
Colin Firth as Jamie
Lúcia Moniz as Aurélia
Liam Neeson as Daniel
Thomas Sangster as Sam
Bill Nighy as Billy Mack
Gregor Fisher as Joe
Martine McCutcheon as Natalie
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Peter
Andrew Lincoln as Mark
Laura Linney as Sarah
Rodrigo Santoro as Karl
Kris Marshall as Colin
Abdul Salis as Tony
Heike Makatsch as Mia
Martin Freeman as John
Joanna Page as Judy (credited as Just Judy)
Olivia Olson as Joanna
Billy Bob Thornton as President of the United States
Rowan Atkinson as Rufus
Nina Sosanya as Annie
Ivana Milicevic as Stacey
January Jones as Jeannie
Elisha Cuthbert as Carol-Anne
Shannon Elizabeth as Harriet
Denise Richards as Carla
Lulu Popplewell as Daisy
Marcus Brigstocke as Mikey
Cool stuff
-Most of the filming took place in London, at places like Trafalgar Square, the central court of Somerset House in the Strand, Grosvenor Chapel on South Audley Street near Hyde Park, St. Paul's Clapham on Rectory Grove, Clapham in the London Borough of Lambeth, The Millenium Bridge, Selfridges department store on Oxford Street, Lambeth Bridge, the Tate Modern, Canary Wharf, Marble Arch, London City Hall.
-For some reason, the movie did not really catch on in the US. I wonder why? I thought it was a really funny movie. I like it. But then again, sometimes people in the US may be a little hesitant to accept movies from other countries, like England.
Trivia
-The scene where Kris Marshall's character Colin insults the caterer's food was actually a scene written for Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral
-Olivia Olson, who plays Sam's crush Joanna, does all her own singing.
-In 2004, it was the most rented DVD in the UK
-The house in which Colin Firth's character stays in France, including the dock, was heavily damaged by fire during the 2003 heat wave, but the house survived.
-The video for Billy Mack's Christmas Is All Around, is a clear and kind tribute to the videos that Robert Palmer usually shot, with him in a good suit, backed up by an all girl band, dressed up and dancing in a back and forth manner.
-The vicar used in Peter and Juliet's wedding is a real vicar.
-They had to put Emma Thompson in a fat suit because in real life she is a very thin woman
-Kris Marshall returned the pay check he got for the scene where the 3 American girls undress him. He said he had so much fun having 3 girls undress him for 21 takes that he was willing to do it for free.
-Knowing that Billy Bob Thornton has a ridiculous fear of antique furniture, Hugh Grant had fun flashing furniture in front of Thornton to see him freak out.
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