Like many people trying to get into the Christmas spirit this month, I recently rewatched the holiday classic Love Actually. Even if you haven’t watched the 2003 film this year, chances are you’ve seen it at least once in your life or plan on watching it on Christmas Day.
Love Actually has been declared by many as the greatest Christmas film of all time and I’m not here to disagree with that. I’m not going to compare it to The Holiday, bring up the debate around Die Hard or point out that Elf has a much higher critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Instead, I’m here to point out nine questionable details in the movie that you’ve either already noticed or won’t be able to unsee during your next rewatch.
1. The cue card scene
Yes, the storyline between Juliet (Keira Knightley), her husband Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) is objectively creepy. But the iconic cue card scene on Juliet’s doorstep made me wonder, what would’ve happened if Peter opened the door to Mark instead?
Did he have a backup plan? Would he have asked to speak to Juliet or just gone home? Either way, I cannot understand how Mark would’ve stayed friends with Peter after declaring his love for his wife.
2. Jamie and Aurélia’s language barrier
Now, I’m all here for this “love knows no bounds” storyline. I was thrilled when Jamie (Colin Firth) returned to France to propose to Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz) in broken Portuguese and she replied in English.
My question, though, is how they both managed to learn a new language so quickly when my Duolingo streak is at 2131 days and I would still consider myself a beginner in French. Yes, I’m jealous, but is it actually possible to learn either language in just a couple of weeks?
3. Natalie and David’s romance
Similar to Jamie and Aurélia, do we not think it’s a bit ridiculous that Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) and David (Hugh Grant) fell in love even though they barely spent any time together?
Was it love, or simply infatuation? Also, was it worth the inevitable political scandal of dating a member of his household staff who was much, much younger than him?
4. Natalie being fat-shamed
It had been a few years since I last watched Love Actually, so I couldn’t believe Natalie was fat-shamed so many times throughout the film. Not only did her dad refer to her as “plump”, but her colleague called her “the chubby girl” and her boyfriend dumped her because “nobody wants a girlfriend with thighs the size of tree trunks”.
Firstly, Natalie isn’t fat. But regardless of her weight, why was this a running gag?
5. Natalie’s address
Another popular fan complaint is how David had to knock on everyone’s door to find Natalie’s house when his role as prime minister should’ve made it pretty easy to find this information. Grant actually acknowledged this plot hole in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2024 and agreed that a lot of the film is “utterly preposterous”.
“Of course, the Prime Minister would have some civil servant who could find out exactly where she lived on the street, as many people have pointed out,” he said.
6. Sam and Joanna’s airport romance
I’m going to let the fact that Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) managed to sneak his way through the airport to say goodbye to Joanna (Olivia Olson) with barely any trouble slide. What I do have an issue with, however, is how Joanna followed him to kiss him on the cheek.
Her family were the last people to get on the plane and we saw how long it took for Sam to get to her departure gate, so how did she have enough time to run there and back before take-off? Surely they would’ve missed the flight, or heavily delayed everyone else’s departure, no?
If I were on that plane, I would’ve been extremely annoyed that my Christmas Eve flight was delayed because a young girl wanted to kiss a boy on the cheek.
7. Emma Thompson
The standout actor in Love Actually is arguably Emma Thompson, who delivers both a charming and utterly heartbreaking performance as Karen. Despite only having a few minutes of screen time, she managed to make viewers feel her pain when she cried in the bedroom after discovering her husband, Harry (Alan Rickman), had bought a necklace for someone else.
So, how did she not receive an Oscar nomination for her role? Or even a Golden Globe nom?
I’m glad she was nominated for a BAFTA and Satellite Award and won at both the Empire Awards and the London Film Critics Circle Awards for her brief role. However, for the US award shows not to recognise her incredible talent is simply ridiculous.
8. Harry’s necklace
Speaking of the necklace Harry bought for his secretary, Mia (Heike Makatsch), why on earth would a department store add so much potpourri when wrapping it up? Does anyone actually want a cinnamon stick and some flowers in their gift bag? Is this a thing?
9. UK and US tensions
Finally, we need to talk about the political tensions in this alternate reality. David told reporters and the US president (Billy Bob Thornton) that his country refuses to be “bullied”, which would’ve made global news. So what happened next?
Did they patch things up? Did David ever end up exposing the President for being inappropriate with a member of his household staff? Did the President end up getting Me Too-ed a decade later? I would’ve binged the hell out of a Ryan Murphy limited series depicting that political scandal.
I know we got a 15-minute sequel in the form of Red Nose Day Actually in 2017, but I need a feature-length follow-up ASAP.
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