It’s a shame, but the Comic Relief Red Nose Day Actually reprise of Love Actually was Guff Actually. The cast was there, everyone from Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy and Colin Firth to Keira Knightley, Rowan Atkinson, Liam Neeson and more. So you could applaud the logistics and goodwill of pulling it all together.
However, it was all lousy jokes and texted-in performances and looked as though it had been cobbled together by fourth formers as an end-of-term project. Even at just 12 minutes, it felt far too long.
Admittedly, I didn’t like the original film. Watching it made me feel as if I was having cold, stale treacle poured over my head by a large mob of demented carollers.
But I still rate Richard Curtis for Blackadder, and I love Comic Relief, and always donate. Maybe the failure of Red Nose Day Actually partly lay in the weight of expectation? Had they kept the venture a secret until, say, a couple of days before, perhaps there wouldn’t have been such a build-up and viewers would have been more forgiving?
As it is, I’m glad that people donated. But I doubt that anyone laughed.
