It may be one of the most popular Christmas films in the world, but love is definitely not all around for one woman boycotting Love Actually this festive period.
An X (formerly Twitter) user took to the social media platform to declare her hatred for the 2003 Richard Curtis film starring Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and more.
The film delves into different aspects of love as shown through 10 separate stories involving a variety of individuals, many of whom are interlinked as the plot progresses.
It begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place in the New Year, starting and ending with a voice-over from Grant’s character.
Owl of Athena (@owl_etc) shared an “unpopular opinion” – that she “detests” Love Actually after watching it “year after year” to try and “find the good in it”. She called it a “visual metaphor for everything wrong in our culture”.
Her first grievance was with the relationships portrayed, with couples including Hugh Grant as the prime minster and a Number 10 staffer, Emma Thompson and a cheating Alan Rickman and Colin Firth and his non-English speaking cleaner.
She said they are “testaments to something toxic”, pointing to the uncomfortable power dynamics present between bosses and employees, becoming infatuated to the point of creepiness with your best friend’s new wife and attempting to build a marriage on phrases learnt in a few basic Portuguese lessons.
Owl of Athena noted: “If you wanted to create vignettes of all the seemingly “normal” relationships that are NOT “love, actually,” you couldn’t do a better job.”
She also had a problem with the depiction of the relationship between the US and UK, with the latter given a sort of moral high ground as America’s “whipping boy”.
The X user called Brits “arrogant, cheeky b******s” for portaying themselves as “victims” while also apparently mocking Bill Clinton through Billy Bob Thornton’s portrayal of the film’s sleazy US president.
Owl of Athena declared that Rowan Atkinson, who portrays a slow-moving jewellery salesman, is “the best thing about this movie”.
She went on to discuss the opening monologue by Hugh Grant, where he talks about the cheering reunions at Heathrow Arrivals and how the final messages from 9/11 victims were of love and not hate.
She felt that “exploiting” the pain of 9/11 family members to begin a story about “toxic relationships and morally bankrupt cultural trends” was “gross.”
The X user finished her rant: “So yeah, I guess I’m a killjoy.”
When it was released in 2003, Love Actually made over five times it’s budget at the box office, earning £196 million. It went on to be nominated for BAFTAs and Golden Globes, winning a BAFTA, and became beloved around the world.