Does Love Actually ‘actually’ stand test of time as cast returns for 20th anniversary including Hugh Grant

It is ‘actually’ happening… the cast of beloved Christmas film Love Actually are reuniting to celebrate its upcoming 20th anniversary.

The likes of Hugh Grant, Dame Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy and Thomas Brodie-Sangster will appear on screens for an hour-long ABC special to discuss how the film became a global sensation and a festive tradition.

The cast of the 2003 film will chat to ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer on Wednesday 30 November at 1am GMT, with film writer and director Richard Curtis making a special appearance.

Every year, millions of people around the world re-watch Hugh Grant shimmying around Number 10, Bill Nighy fumble with song lyrics and Emma Thompson cry her heart out since it first came out in November 2003.

While some of the cast came back together briefly in 2017 for Red Nose Day to create a short film for the fundraising event, the Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually gives a sneak peek into behind the scenes secrets and allows the cast to discuss how Covid-19 allowed people to learn to love again.

In a clip advertising the upcoming special, Richard Curtis tells Diane Sawyer: “I do think that the way to think about life is that every day has the potential to just be gorgeous.”

As the film follows various nine different couples exploring their ideas of ‘love’ in the build up to Christmas, some people have begun to question whether the film ‘actually’ stands the test of time after 20 years.

Some say that the film is a structural mess citing that “the movie is far more concerned with shoving as many stories together as possible instead of developing the people or their plot lines”.

With others adding that some of the plot lines are out-dated, specifically referencing Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant and Kris Marshall’s characters who objectify women.

For more context (if you haven’t seen Love Actually), Alan’s character cheats on his wife with his secretary, Kris’ goal is to get laid and so travels to America to do so, and Hugh fancies his female colleague (McCutcheon) and states that ‘it is so inconvenient’.

Despite this, Love Actually star Martine McCutcheon explained in 2020 as to why she believed the nearly 20-year-old film stands the test of time.

She said: “It’s such a romantic film and such a sweet, funny, touching film. I think so many people find a part of that movie that kind of just fits them or that they want to have in their lives and that’s such an honour and such a compliment to the movie and people that are in it.

“It’s just really amazing that it is still around after all this time. And people still love it so much. It’s the loveliest, loveliest feeling to be part of it every year.”