Okay, We Shouldn’t Be Dreading The ‘Love Actually’ Sequel Like We Dread Every Other Sequel

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Sequels are necessary Hollywood evil that often turn the nostalgia of movie’s past into groans of, “Why are they doing this?” while you sip a $8 all-you-can-drink fountain soda wishing you never even knew a sequel was made. I, for one, never even bothered seeing the Dumb & Dumber sequel because I couldn’t stand the thought of liking the first one less. Wasn’t worth it.

Much has been made over the past 24 hours regarding the news that there’s going to be a Love Actually sequel. I’ll say this: Love Actually deserves to have its hat in the ring for one of the greatest romantic comedies and/or Christmas movies ever made and you can catch these hands if you say otherwise. When I originally read the headline “Love Actually Is Getting a Sequel,” my stomach turned.

I didn’t want to see a grown-up Sam with a deep voice a la every kid in Modern Family. I dreaded see the inevitable messy divorce between Karen and Harry. I hated the idea of a post-Prime Minister Hugh Grant not being with Natalie.

But then there was a twist. The twist we needed. The twist that’s going to make this entire escapade alright. The sequel is not actually a “sequel” at all — simply a 10-minute catch-up with the characters letting us know where they are today rather than two hours of hoping everything doesn’t go down in flames.

Per Vanity Fair:

That follow-up won’t be another full-length movie. Instead, the film’s stars—an impressive group that includes Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln, and Rowan Atkinson—will reunite with Love Actually writer and director Richard Curtis for a short film being released as a part of this year’s Red Nose Day, a telethon that raises money for the charity Comic Relief. The event was first held in the U.K. in 1988; it has since expanded to the U.S., where the telecast is broadcast by NBC.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the reunion short will premiere across the pond on May 24 and in the U.S. the following day.

Writer and director Richard Curtis said, “I would never have dreamt of writing a sequel to Love Actually, but I thought it might be fun to do 10 minutes to see what everyone is now up to,” and I couldn’t agree more. I’m actually mad I didn’t think of a column this past Christmas that was titled, “Everything The Couples From Love Actually Are Doing This Christmas” because that has viral potential written all over it.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t have ponied up $14 for a ticket for a mid-December reprise called Love Actuallier, but I wouldn’t have been psyched about doing it. There’s a reason I still get butterflies when I think about the arrival terminal at Heathrow Airport and know all the lyrics to the awful song, “Christmas Is All Around Us” better than the lyrics to the actual song it’s covering.

But make the sequel a get-in, get-out 10-minute flash in the pan? Yeah, watching that ten times out of ten. .

[via Vanity Fair]

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Will

Will (Twitter / Instagram) is the host of The Sunday Scaries Podcast.

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