Love Actually [DVD] [2003]

Hugh Grant plays the loveable 'prince charming' role- this time he's a prime minister who falls in love with a member of his staff who is played by Martine Mcutcheon (surprisingly well)...Colin Firth escapes to France to recover from a broken heart but then finds the girl of his dreams, only problem is she's Portuguese and therefore they don't understand a word each other says...One of the most superbly acted thread of the storyline is that between a married woman who feels like she is losing her husband who is attracted to his younger worker at a newspaper office. They are played by Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman to perfection and so wholly believable you end up rooting for them right to the end...Liam Neeson plays a widowed Father desperately trying to somehow connect with his son, who himself is feeling the pain of love when he tries to win the affection of a girl in his school...Laura Linney plays a journalist who is completely in-love with a co-worker since she first started but never told him, instead opting to admire from afar...There's also Kiera Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean) who mistakes the reason why her newly wed husband's best friend seems so distant with her, played by the ever charming Andrew Lincoln...Even though that's enough for any film, there is even more brilliant acting from the 'supporting' cast which includes the ever funny Rowan Atkinson and the hilairious Bill Nighy as an ageing rocker with one last shot at reaching the top of the charts...Even after that there's still more- from Kris Marshall who makes his break from My Family to the big screen and Billy Bob Thorton who tries to steal The Prime Minister's love.

With a cast this big, and so impressive, what more could you ask for from a film? The plot is woven in and out of each other, intricatally connecting and inter-connecting, climaxing on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. The only problem is that the film is almost too good- some storylines are so touching (Laura Linney's deprivation from the love of her life to attend to her ill brother) and some are so heart-felt (Colin Firth dashing to Portugal to pronounce his love) that you just want to see more of them. Other storylines aren't completely finished and your left wandering what happened which I'm not sure if it was done on purpose or not, and some (Alan Rickman and his wife Emma Thompson) coulld just have an entire film all by themselves.

The extras include all the usual you would expect from a DVD- audio commentaries, deleted scenes, a storytellers featurette, music highlights- and yes, you even get Bill Nighy's brilliant music video for 'Love is all Around.' Overall this film cannot fail to make you feel good, even though sometimes it leaves you in tears it never stops making you laugh.

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It's classy, escapist, romantic, cosy, thought-provoking sugar.

But it has also been reviewed to death, so I won't dwell on the plot but rather on the DVD's special features.

I'd been disappointed by favourite films whose DVDs have come with a meagre lack of extras (Titanic, are your ears burning?) - happily not the case here.

Here's what you can expect for your £16.99 - actually:

- Witty, engaging commentary by writer/director Richard Curtis, Hugh Grant, Bafta-winning Bill Nighy and young Thomas Sangster (Hugh Grant's real-life cousin, who plays lovesick moppet Sam). Digs aplenty from naughty Hugh at his Bridget Jones love rival Colin Firth ('Controversial cardy he's wearing there!' 'Guess you had to film him from above to make him look thinner!').

- The cringe-o-rama promo for Billy Mack's spoof Troggs/Wet Wet Wet remake, Christmas Is All Around.

- The obligatory behind-the-scenes documentary, which is in fact the one letdown here, being a tad on the short and lightweight side.

- Highlighted songs - including All I Want for Christmas(sung brilliantly by mature-beyond-her-years 10-year-old Olivia Olsen, alias little Sam's love interest, Joanna) and The Beach Boys'God Only Knows - with enlightening introductions by Richard Curtis, which demonstrate the power of a good soundtrack to a mushy blockbuster.

- A virtual movie's-worth of deleted scenes. It really is a revelation just how much was sacrificed to the cutting room floor - but then if every single tiddly character's love story were allowed to unravel, the film would never end. Love Actually could spawn a thousand sequels.

Which may not be a bad thing.

Oh go on - buy it, leave your brain and cynicism outside the door, close the curtains, pour yourself a Baileys, open the Milk Tray and wallow in sugar!

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