If there is such a thing as a sweeping romantic comedy epic it is Love Actually. It was this feature of the movie that simultaneously attracted audiences and repelled critics. Trying to do too much, especially in a normal comedy film length, is the main criticism, but fans of the film have long felt that Love Actually meets its ambitious storytelling at just the right point.

The first few years of the 21st Century was the time to try new things with media of all sorts, including rom-coms. The genre had become rather stale throughout the 90s but Love Actually writer/director Richard Curtis had already demonstrated what could be done within the romantic comedies as early as 1994 with Four Weddings and a Funeral, making him the right person to give a ten-intertwined-storyline picture at the right time for fresh-starts, the early 2000s.