One of our traditions for our
anniversary is to watch Love Actually,
the first Christmas film of the season. A few days ago I noticed that the boxes
of Christmas decorations in the corner of my office had been disturbed and I
put it down to the cats having a tussle and causing a fracas. It turns out that
it was Mandi going through the decorations boxes and digging out all of the
Christmas DVDs to start watching. Love Actually
is a modern classic of the Christmas film genre, which once again brought a
tear to my eyes.
It’s an interesting film when
you look at the cast, not the likes of Hugh Grant or Alan Rickman of course,
but the lower end of the league table. There are a few cameos from the likes of
Marcus Brigstock and Junior Simpson, but there’s an element of casting that
seems to smell a bit of bandwagon jumping to suit the time of the film’s making
and this will in time make Love Actually
look very dated.
Jo Wiley as the radio DJ heard
in Downing Street was probably seen as a
genius bit of casting way back in 2003 when she was a cool and credible
broadcaster, and newcomers to the film might wonder why Saturday night
shiny-floor television comedians Ant and Dec are portrayed as Saturday morning
children’s television presenters. Kris Marshall was seen as a great comedy
discovery, having won the best newcomer award at the 2002 British Comedy Awards
on the back of his role in My Family. He
was the best thing in that programme, even actors of the calibre of Zoe
Wanamaker and Robert Lindsay couldn’t save My Family once
Marshall had left. His role in Love Actually was very similar to his My Family
character, but was ultimately the weak link in the film’s narrative. The story
of his character going to America to find an American girlfriend is ruined by
the ridiculous story of him going to a bar straight from the plane and scoring
with four sexy American women, it might have worked as a dream sequence after
which he wakes up and has to go to his low-status catering job, but here it is
just stupid.
The most curious element of
the casting is the presence of Martine McCucheon. She had left Eastenders a few years before and followed up while the
going was good with a brief pop music career, in particular with her hit record
‘Perfect Moment’. I assume that this was her first film role and expectations
for her where positive. Sadly, this didn’t work out quite how I imagine she
planned and was last seen pushing yoghurt. Declared bankrupt this year, she is
nowadays (according to Wikipedia) a DJ on Heart Radio. If I hadn’t checked then
I wouldn’t have known this. Her website is just a front page announcing that
the website is under construction, and her Twitter feed doesn’t seem to mention
current acting jobs.
At least Richard Curtis has
had more success than I have. I have had a Christmas film in mind for a few
years now which will probably not ever come to anything, my original choice for
one of the main parts was Ronnie Barker, when he died I replaced him with Eric
Sykes.
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