Love Actually

Screenwriter Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") wrote and directed this similarly toned comedy, which serves up four or six (8? 10? I lost count) romances, most of which are linked in some peripheral way. Curtis enthusiastically propagates the notion that true love is out there, and all it may take to make it blossom is a smile, a coincidence, or a mutually charming lack of communicative skill (he also seems to have a great faith in the redemptive power of airports). The attractive, star-studded cast does the best it can with the material, which certainly provides the requisite mix of comedy and pathos. Curtis knows how to set up a clever scene, but if nothing else, the movie proves that too much of a good thing can be, well, too much. By the end, the jumbled narration and slapdash construction undermine the manifest charm and wit of the enterprise.