Love Actually: 20th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Review

THE MOVIE — 4/5

Plot Synopsis: Nine intertwined stories examine the complexities of the one emotion that connects us all: love. Among the characters explored are David (HUGH GRANT), the handsome newly elected British prime minister who falls for a young junior staffer (MARTINE MCCUTHEON), Sarah (LAURA LINNEY), a graphic designer whose devotion to her mentally ill brother complicates her love life, and Harry (ALAN RICKMAN), a married man tempted by his attractive new secretary.

Quick Hit Review: Love Actually is probably one of my favorite romantic comedy and one I’ve seen several times over the years. It features a great ensemble cast each of whom are charming, even the ones who are, let’s say, morally flawed. Among them, probably Alan Rickman, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant and Bill Nighy are the standouts. And Grant for his part reminds you how strong his on-screen charisma was back then.

In terms of the humor, the movie does also keep things risqué in the typical British way without succumbing to the more gross aspects propelled by the American Pie franchise (all of which, theatrically, outside of Wedding, I thoroughly enjoyed). Alongside the drama, it melds so well together and makes the two-hour running time fly by.

That being said, not all of the stories work or feel weakly connected with the rest, most notably “Jamie and Aurelia” (played by Colin Firth and Lucia Monez) and “Colin” (Kris Marshall), both have funny but could’ve been excised with no consequences; of course without Colin, we wouldn’t have been treated to appearances by January Jones, Elisha Cuthbert, Shannon Elizabeth and Denise Richards, so there’s that. There’s also the “Sarah/Karl” plotline and as great as Laura Linney was, she didn’t have a whole lot of chemistry with Rodrigo Santoro’s Karl character who had the charisma of a wet paper bag. In addition, the whole “Juliet, Peter and Mark” storyline can’t be perceived as more creepy than heartwarming when we get to the marquee cue card scene.

However, despite its flaws mainly with the storytelling rather than the cast, Love Actually is just an all around feel good film even if one shouldn’t apply some of the lessons to real life or have some sort of high expectations in a relationship, which is something all rom-coms have in common.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3¾/5

This release comes with a matted slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy.

Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Richard Curtis & Actors Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy and Thomas Sangster, a track I thoroughly enjoyed when I first listened years ago and still a lot fun today. Would’ve been cool to get a new one with other cast and/or crew members, even if recorded via Zoom and spliced together.

Making Love Actually (29:32) — This is a new featurette with Curtis and others reflecting on the film 20 years later.

The Music of Love Actually (8:26) is on the music, including a Joni Mitchell song.

The Story Tellers (9:58) is an EPK-style featurette provides some behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew.

Deleted Scenes (37:48) — There are several scenes that didn’t make the cut and include introductions by Curtis.

Music Videos:

• “The Trouble with Love Is” by Kelly Clarkson
• “Christmas is All Around” by “Billy Mack”

VIDEO – 3½/5, AUDIO – 4½/5

Love Actually arrives on 4K Ultra HD from Universal and from my reading, remastered by StudioCanal. The picture is presented in its original 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and a 2160p high-definition transfer. I would say for the most part the transfer looks alright however it’s not without its blemishes. While detail was generally decent, at times there were shots or entire scenes that felt… scrubbed, kind of like the dark old days of early Blu-ray where studios thought grain was bad and utilized tools to smooth things out. The result here is there were some scenes that looked fairly good with fine grain and noise still intact while others there was evidence of tinkering. Colors meanwhile were well balanced along with black levels which didn’t show any obvious signs of artifacts.

The disc includes a strong and robust Dolby Atmos track which frankly could be overkill for a romantic-comedy but still effective. Dialogue comes across the center speaker with excellent clarity and there is some modest depth for the outdoor scenes and even a bit of a punch in the shots where Sam is practicing his drumming skills.

OVERALL — 3¾/5

Love Actually is just an all around fun, charming and heartwarming romantic-comedy-drama that features an amazing ensemble cast and even though I’ve seen this numerous times, it still doesn’t fail to make me smile.