This week on International Feature, we took a trip back to one of the most talked-about holiday rom-coms of all time: Love Actually. Often held up as a seasonal classic, the film has remained a staple of Christmas viewing for years — but for us, revisiting it raised a lot more questions than warm fuzzy feelings. We dug into why the movie’s reputation doesn’t match our experience, and how some of its most celebrated moments have aged… poorly.

• Only really connecting with one or two of the relationship dynamics presented
• Our genuine disbelief that this is considered a romantic comedy “classic”
• The blatant fatphobia and the way several characters are mistreated for laughs
• The uncomfortable and inappropriate dynamic between Keira Knightley and Andrew Lincoln’s character
• Too many characters, too little depth, and barely enough time spent with any storyline
• The randomness of certain casting choices — and how Martin Freeman ends up in movies like this
• Why ensemble rom-coms just don’t work for us when the emotional payoff isn’t there

A holiday staple for some… but for us, this was more frustrating than festive

Letterbox'd Synopsis: Eight very different couples deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.

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