Why I finally stopped hating Love Actually

Maybe it’s because I’ve grown up, but my cynicism towards feel-good films has gone. Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and now Yesterday — all I want is love on the big screen, writes Kerry Parnell.

• Movie-making legend’s tribute to The Beatles

I didn’t used to like Richard Curtis’ movies. But now I want to live in one.

I thought them saccharine stories set in implausibly pleasant versions of Britain, but hey, in today’s increasingly toxic world full of anger and bitterness, show me the way to Curtisland.

Actually, that’s not true — I loved Four Weddings and a Funeral. It was charming, funny and cut with sadness (the funeral was written in at the suggestion of Curtis’ friend, Helen Fielding. He would repay the favour by her turning Bridget Jones’ London into Curtisland).

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I enjoyed Notting Hill less, because I was a cynical 20-something, too busy sneering about sentimentality to actually allow myself, or others, to have any emotions.

Four Weddings and a Funeral is surely one of the greatest Curtis films of all time. Picture: supplied

But it was Love Actually that cracked me. It was just too much love. Too many lovely locations, posh kitchens and Keira Knightley pouting. Despite it going on to be a classic Christmas movie, critics felt the same way initially — especially American ones. The New York Times called it an “indigestible Christmas pudding” and The Washington Post said the sentimentalism “seems to have been applied with a trowel.”

It didn’t matter — it made $357 million at the box office.

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But something has happened to me; my cynicism has evaporated, sneering stopped and my desire to watch movies that embrace the good side of humanity increased. It’s probably because I became a mother. It’s definitely because I grew up.

Now, if Curtisland was a real place, I’d move in tomorrow.

Himesh Patel and Ed Sheeran star in Richard Curtis’s new film, Yesterday. Picture: supplied

I recently watched his and Danny Boyle’s new love-fest Yesterday and interviewed the engaging duo. The final scene is a glorious celebration of life, and I don’t care if it’s super-sentimental.

Protagonist Jack says, “Isn’t normal wonderful?” And it really is.

“I do believe that,” Curtis told me. “It’s (something) I feel very strongly because I don’t think the pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow.”

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Interestingly, Curtisland isn’t even posh anymore, probably down to the equalising influence of director Danny and the fact you can’t really make a movie about Beatles songs and set it in Chelsea.

I think we have got it wrong about what comprises art. Why are TV shows or movies about murder more valid than a rom-com? What is more important in life than love?

It was Love Actually that cracked me. Picture: supplied

Curtis, 62, is aware of the criticism levelled at him and last year told Channel Four, “I’m suspicious of the romanticisation of bad things. I know everything that’s wrong with my films, believe you me. If you make a film about a soldier who goes AWOL and murders a pregnant nurse … it’s called searingly realistic analysis of society.

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“If I make a film like Love Actually, which is about people falling in love … it’s called a sentimental presentation of an unrealistic world.”

He says he doesn’t believe that. “My experience tells me that everywhere in the world, there are heroes and brave people, working to achieve extraordinary things.” One of whom is him — he has raised $1.8 billion for charity through Comic Relief. Which is quite nice.

In a time of so much turmoil and hate, I have therefore come to the conclusion that all we need is love, actually.

Just maybe not Keira Knightley’s pout. That’s still annoying.

@KerryParnell