'Love Actually' is feel-good flick

"I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes. Love is all around me. Come on and let it show," is a tune that those who have recently seen "Love Actually" are likely to have stuck in their heads.

This cutsie tune fits the feel of the movie. Hugh Grant sums up the movie's theme with an opening monologue about how "love actually is all around us," a sentiment quite apropos for the holiday season.

Uniquely set up, this movie introduces several plot lines that are loosely connected throughout the course of the film. But these 10 or so storylines primarily operate as separate entities, each representing variations of the classic but still conventional love story.

The atypical movie format also adds to the feeling that "love is all around" by allowing the viewers to see multiple love stories transpiring with all ages and in all situations.

One story involves Hugh Grant who plays the prime minister of England and falls for his housekeeper (Martine McCutcheon). In another, a newlywed (Keira Knightly) finds herself entangled in a love triangle with her husband and his best friend.

There is the story of a man (Alan Rickman) who considers cheating on his wife (Emma Thompson) with his secretary and the story of a man (Colin Firth) who is cheated on by his wife with his brother.

Despite these high powered names, the plot that elicits the most "ahhs" from the audience is the story of a little boy (Thomas Sangster) who has fallen completely in love with his classmate.

Appropriate to this movie's theme of universal love, it superficially examines the many nuances of the meaning of the phrase, "to be in love."

The story of the little boy shows love as an innocent crush to a girl to whom he had never spoken. Conversely, Firth's story shows love as it results when two people live and work together.

Knightly's story shows love as honorable and being loyal to one's friends. Thompson's story is juxtaposed with Knightly's. While both show love as steadfast and unselfish, in Thompson's case, her love for her children and her desire to hold the family together keep her from divorcing her husband, who she suspects was unfaithful to her.

Not only is love between couples investigated, but also love between friends, siblings, and parents and children.

However, the film tried to investigate love a bit too universally. There were a few too many stories to follow. And the connections between the stories were so brief that some of them were easy to miss.

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Just as the singer of the opening tune is striving to have "the" Christmas single of the year, this movie had the potential to be "the" Christmas movie of the holiday season. It falls just short however. While the movie has great acting and an endearing message, it is by no means a family movie.

One of the plots surrounds the story of a porn actor and actress performing for an X rated film. Though their nonchalant attitude and petty conversation makes their story somewhat humorous, this plot could have easily been eliminated to make the movie more appropriate for all ages.

Additionally, this would have reduced the number of plot lines to keep track of, which also would have improved the movie.

Though the movie presents no new earth-shattering insights into love, the "same old, same old" sentiments work for this feel-good holiday film. Going to this movie probably should not be a family event, but with friends it will be quite enjoyable. And though the film is not likely to win any Oscars, it still leaves the audience humming a happy tune and puts us in the right mindset for the holidays ahead.