It takes us until the end of this film to realise what the connection is between these people who, with Christmas fast approaching, are having troubles with love lives they have had for ages, have only just started - or just didn't know they wanted at all! Hugh Grant is the Blair-esque British Prime Minister who takes a shine to his assistant "Natalie" (Martine McCutcheon); recently widowed Liam Neeson ("Daniel") has to come to terms with the adoration his drum-learning eleven year old son 'Sam" has for a girl at school who is soon to head back to her American home; Colin Firth's rather wimpish "Jamie" finds that his relationship maybe just takes the concept of keeping things in the family a bit too far - but perhaps hope is on the horizon in Portugal? Meantime, an on-form Bill Nighy is hoping a re-versioned, shockingly tacky, seasonal version of the Trogs' "Love is All Around" will put him and long-suffering manager "Joe" (Gregor Fisher) back on the top of the chart; Emma Thompson is facing a crisis of confidence in her marriage to Alan Rickman - a man who seems to be having a crisis of his own with his office assistant/temptress "Mia" (Heike Makatsch); Martin Freeman and Joanna Page are gradually bonding while acting out an increasingly detailed series of sex scenes for a movie rehearsal and, well you get the drift. The story is peppered with pithy, observational humour that illustrates quite potently the various stages of love and relationships from loved-up ascendency through routine mundanity with all the concomitant tribulations that make us laugh, cringe and occasionally want to weep a bit. I always had a bit of a crush on Andrew Lincoln ever since he was in the BBC's "This Life" (1996) and so his storyline here with newly-wed best friend Chiwetel Ejiofor and Keira Knightley was a bit sad - there are two ways it can go, possibly even three? Laura Linney also features as the overworked "Sarah" who has her own crush on colleague "Karl" (Rodrigo Santoro) but who also brings some seriousness to the proceedings as she is constantly on her phone, at the most inappropriate of moments, but for anything but frivolous reasons (though this story does rather peter out). This is an amalgam that spins the threads together cleverly and entertainingly, whilst still keeping our eyes open to the realities of so many people who find Christmas a joy and/or a pain. Some storylines work better than others, but I suspect we'd never all agree on which we liked best - and that's a testament to the innovative writing and consistent pacing of this drama. I don't know about the Prime Minister's experiences at Heathrow Airport, but I came through there yesterday and can assure you - there were few feelings of love and affection as everyone battled just to get out - with trolley fights that wouldn't have looked out of place in "Ben Hur"
