Love Actually begins with images of people hugging in an airport and a voice-over of Hugh Grant talking about the post 9/11 world. Despite the world of hate that seems to surround us, he explains that if you look for it, you find “that love actually is all around.”

We then dive into ten different love stories, moving back and forth between them so quickly it takes awhile to figure out what’s going on. Though love is the theme, each of the stories involve different kinds of love with different obstacles and variant amounts of weight in terms of time.

Some of the more significant stores involve Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister, falling in love with his secretary; Colin Firth falling in love with his Portuguese housekeeper; Emma Thompson fearing that her husband, Alan Rickman, is having an affair; Liam Neeson trying to help his love-sick young son while dealing with the death of his wife and Bill Nighy struggling to put out a hit Christmas song with his manager.

Not all of the stories end with each of the characters getting exactly what they want, but they do all end happily and hopefully. Though the romantic storylines are simple and fairly superficial, they are amazingly enjoyable and terribly happy. Not since Amelie have I been more uplifted and joy-filled by such happy unions.

I love Hugh Grant here, and short parts by Rowan Atkinson as an eccentric jewelry salesman and Billy Bob Thornton as the president of the United States are hilarious. But many of the scenes seem to go on too long. In fact, some whole storylines could have been cut completely. I think we could have caught the spirit just as well with six or seven of the stories.

It’s all joyful nonetheless. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s something about Liam Neeson’s son racing through the airport for his little love or Colin Firth marching through the streets of Portugal for his that warm the heart like nothing else. Incessantly positive and unabashedly optimistic, Love Actually is actually the happiest film of the year.

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