# Love, actually? why not call it Shit, Actually **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 19, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087 "2003-11-19T13:50:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![confessorknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@confessorknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/confessorknight)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/61 "2003-11-21T23:10:32Z")
Putting some actual thought into it I realise that they were just regular guns loaded with blanks and, so, not having any live ammo for them they were ditched as soon as possible. _About A Boy_ was better than the rest of Grant’s movie because (as others have said) it wasn’t written by Richard Curtis and he was playing against type as a overconfident, self-interested wanker. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/62 "2003-11-22T15:15:12Z")
I liked _Love Actually_, but I can see how it wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste. As **pepperlandgirl** mentioned, it’s got some great actors–Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, etc. But if you hate romantic comedies, you won’t like this movie. If you’re neutral about them (I usually avoid myself), you might be pleasantly surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/63 "2003-11-22T15:42:15Z")
Hey, I liked _The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down a Mountain_, despite a title that makes it sound like a Merchant-Ivory porn flick. _Love Actually_, however, looks to be so saccharine it could cause cancer in laboratory rats. Definitely on my “must avoid by a wide berth” list. And I get the impression that Martine thinks this is her “big break”, whereas I’m guessing it’s the last nail in her acting coffin (the one with the brass plaque reading “Cheeky Cockney Lass-type” on it). Considering that she’s already killed off her singing and stage acting careers (and her Eastender character) in very short order, I give it eight months before we see her on The Bill. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/64 "2003-11-23T11:02:52Z")
Rilchiam walks through living room, sees TV screen showing Hugh Grant in a hospital setting and wearing a lab coat. Rilch: “Why are you watching **Nine Months**?” Mr. Rilch: “No, it’s called **Extreme Measures**. Thought I’d check it out 'cause Gene Hackman’s in it.” Rilchiam sits down, watches Hackman assure Grant that there’s no need to be concerned about a case history that’s disappeared. Grant is unconvinced… Rilchiam: “Well, I’ll be. He **can** play something besides the mumbling, stuttering Brit!” ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/65 "2003-11-24T07:08:26Z")
I liked **Four Weddings and a Funeral** quite a lot. Seeing **Love Actually** made me realize what an accomplishment **4WaaF** was…the new flick is but a pale imitation of the earlier effort. I went to see **Love Actually** because I’ll watch Laura Linney in anything. She was tragically underused, but not as tragically underused as she was in **Mystic River**. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/66 "2003-11-24T09:13:15Z")
Hugh Grant’s a very talented actor - honestly, he is. Unfortunately for him, he suffers from Cary Grant disease insofar as it seems as though every role he plays is a variation on the same role. When we think of Cary Grant after all these years we think of North by North West or some such ilk, but movie fans are aware that Cary Grant did some wonderfully challenging roles in his time. Hugh Grant will come good. He’ll start playing some nasty roles in a few years and our perceptions will change. But nonetheless, he’s a far better actor than immediately meets the eye. He’s simply made a few too many “Merchant Ivory” films over the years for the perception of type casting not to stick. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/67 "2003-11-24T12:07:25Z")
I disagree. I’ve seen nothing in anything he’s done, including Extreme Measures that will prove he’ll come good. If he was going to go against type, surely he has enough pull to get a decent villain role by now. IF he was going to do it. which i doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/68 "2003-11-24T12:25:33Z")
Well, I saw it last night and I really liked it. Yes it was pretty smaltzy. Yes, it was completely unrealistic (note to Colin Firth: when you “fall in love” with a pretty girl you can’t exchange 2 words with, that ain’t love. It’s another 4-letter word beginning with L, but it ain’t love). But so what? I don’t need films to be “real”, I live reality every day. A little bit of sweet escapism is sometimes just what I need, especially at Christmas. For me, it was the film equivelant of curling up on my sofa by the fire to eat chocolate. You’d make yourself sick if you did it for too long, but every once in a while it’s an extremely comforting way to stop the world and get off for a bit. And I thought the little kid was adorable. I want to take him home and keep him as a pet. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/69 "2003-11-24T12:35:27Z")
Sounds like the definition of a girlie film to me. Wake me up when the thread gets around to Liz Projectile Hurling. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/70 "2003-11-24T12:54:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WILLASS \* > \*\*Ok, Ok, i’m now being dragged to go and see this lump of turkey jizz film with my girlfriend when it comes out. After I politley told her that i’d rather ‘cheese grate my helmet and dunk it in vinegar’ She informed me that it was her turn to choose a movie (I chose ‘Kill Bill’, annoyingley she wanted to see that) and that if I didn’t go _and enjoy it_ she would withdraw all ‘privileges’. I may have to shit my own pants to liven things up… \*\* You should split up with her now before her dragging you about by the boys becomes a more serious habit. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/71 "2003-11-29T02:12:16Z")
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! We went to go and see the film on Thursday night and it was sold out! What a stroke of luck…unfortunatley when we got back to the house her housemate made us watch ‘Queen of the Damned’ - Hot damn thats a shit film, at least I could escape to bed half way through…and **ShibbOleth** she’s not a ball buster (I made her out to be for a more amusing post) it was just her turn to pick a movie. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/72 "2003-11-29T02:26:50Z")
**spooje** , you’re a bastard. 😉 Based on your input in this very thread, I agreed to sit through _Two Weeks_ [sic] _Notice_. Were you being intentionally cruel? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/73 "2003-11-29T02:57:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gyrate \* > **Hey, I liked _The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down a Mountain_, despite a title that makes it sound like a Merchant-Ivory porn flick.** I agree, although to be fair Hugh isn’t a huge part of the film (it’s sold as a Grant vehicle, but it’s much more of an ensemble piece). Colm Meany and the old priest own. And hey, it’s a true story. It’s the only Grant film I can stand, though. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/74 "2003-11-29T20:27:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by paulberserker \* > \*\* > Still, shows you how good in bed Liz Hurley is if FopBoy has to go to a $10 hooker to get his cock smoked. Heh heh…, \*\* Actually, at the time of Grant’s arrest, the cynica lwoman I wasd dating suggested that 1. He’d WANTED to get caught, and 2. The arrest would HELP his career. I was baffled by how she could say such a thing, but her explanation made a bit of sense. She noted that one of the ONLY things keeping Hugh Grant from becoming a major sex symbol to millions of American women was the suspicion that he was gay and Liz Hurley was little more than a “beard.” By shelling out a few bucks to a hooker, and a bit more for a fine, Hugh Grant “proved” in a very public way that he liked girls! Ultimately, my then-girlfriend argued, that could only be a PLUS for him at the box office. I’m still not 100% sure she was wrong! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/75 "2003-11-29T20:38:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by paulberserker \* > \*\* > Still, shows you how good in bed Liz Hurley is if FopBoy has to go to a $10 hooker to get his cock smoked. Heh heh…, \*\* Actually, at the time of Grant’s arrest, the cynica lwoman I wasd dating suggested that 1. He’d WANTED to get caught, and 2. The arrest would HELP his career. I was baffled by how she could say such a thing, but her explanation made a bit of sense. She noted that one of the ONLY things keeping Hugh Grant from becoming a major sex symbol to millions of American women was the suspicion that he was gay and Liz Hurley was little more than a “beard.” By shelling out a few bucks to a hooker, and a bit more for a fine, Hugh Grant “proved” in a very public way that he liked girls! Ultimately, my then-girlfriend argued, that could only be a PLUS for him at the box office. I’m still not 100% sure she was wrong! ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/76 "2003-11-30T23:56:19Z")
Just saw Love, Actually. I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Bestfilms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bestfilms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bestfilms)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/77 "2013-01-31T22:56:23Z")
I agree I hate Love Actually too. It’s a fucking 2 hour 20 minutes comedy, why make a comedy so long? And that multiple storylines thing is getting tired too. Interestingly the same studio that made this drivel told George Lucas (who invented the format with American Graffiti) that you just can’t have numerous different storylines with lots of different characters - and then they made this after Graffiti become a hit! The only opinion of the OP that I disagree with is that ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ wasn’t great, when it was a classic. A hit made by the people without a huge, expensive marketing campaign - unlike this. The Tall Guy and Notting Hill were excellent films too. Additionally, I think Richard Curtis created some great shows with ‘The Vicar Of Dibley’ and ‘Blackadder’, but this formula has become weak and tiresome. Done way too many times by now and this is overkill. It’s boring and tedious and I can understand why most people hate this movie. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/78 "2013-01-31T22:58:47Z")
Just so you know, this thread was originally started over nine years ago. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/79 "2013-01-31T23:05:00Z")
How many films has Hugh Grant been in since then? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087/80 "2013-01-31T23:11:28Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > How many films has Hugh Grant been in since then? They’re working on a third Bridget Jones movie. While that does not precisely answer your question, it does indicate that the man is still working. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-why-not-call-it-shit-actually/214087.md?page=5)