Love Actually/Definitely, Maybe/Bridget Jones’s Diary DVD – Hugh Grant, Colin Firth

Triple set of romantic comedies. In ‘Love Actually’ (2003,), eight stories involving the love lives of more than a dozen characters are brought together over one Christmas and climax on Christmas Eve; from the recent widower Daniel (Liam Neeson), the failing marriage of Karen (Emma Thompson) and Harry (Alan Rickman), the aging rocker (Bill Nighy) who just wants to get paid (and laid if possible), through to the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) falling for a member of Number 10’s staff (Martine McCutcheon). The film was another box-office success for the filmmakers and stars a host of British talent and celebrities. In ‘Definitely Maybe’ (2008), Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) is a 30-something father who is in the middle of a divorce when his 10-year-old daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), asks him to describe his life before he married her mother. For Maya, Will recounts his past as an ambitious young politician. He also recalls relationships he had with three very different women, changing their names so Maya has to guess who the woman is that her father finally married. Is her mother Will’s college sweetheart, Emily (Elizabeth Banks)? Or his longtime best friend and confidante, April (Isla Fisher)? Or is she the free-spirited and ambitious journalist, Summer (Rachel Weisz)? In ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ (2001), Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is the 1990s British everywoman: single, weight-obsessed, and very probably drunk on mid-price white wine. Her life goes from middling to worse when she embarks on a doomed affair with silver-tongued boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). In the background lurks a literal Mr Darcy (Colin Firth), a seemingly cold lawyer who keeps crossing Bridget’s path but whose precise intentions are hard for her to divine. All the while Bridget records her lurches across life’s highway in the eponymous diary, as an attempt to take control of her tragi-comic life.

Love Actually: From the new bachelor Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) instantly falling in love with a refreshingly real member of the staff (Martine McCutcheon) moments after entering 10 Downing Street… To a writer (Colin Firth) escaping to the south of France to nurse his re-broken heart who finds love in a lake… From a comfortably married woman (Emma Thompson) suspecting that her husband (Alan Rickman) is slipping away… To a new bride (Keira Knightley) mistaking the distance of her husband’s best friend for something it’s not… From a schoolboy seeking to win the attention of the most unattainable girl in school… To a widowed stepfather (Liam Neeson) trying to connect with a son he suddenly barely knows… From a lovelorn junior manager (Laura Linney) seizing a chance with her long-tended unspoken office crush… To an ageing seen it all remember very little of it rock star (Bill Nighy) jonesing for an end-of-career comeback in his own uncompromising way… Love the equal-opportunity mischief-maker is causing chaos for all. These London lives and loves collide mingle and climax on Christmas Eve-again and again and again-with romantic hilarious and bittersweet consequences for anyone lucky (or unlucky) enough to be under love’s spell. Definitely Maybe: Definitely Maybe features Ryan Reynolds stars as Will Hayes a 30-something Manhattan dad in the midst of a divorce when his 10 year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love. Will’s story begins in 1992 as a young starry-eyed aspiring politician who moves to New York from Wisconsin in order to work on the Clinton campaign. For Maya Will relives his past as an idealistic young man learning the ins and outs of big city politics and recounts the history of his romantic relationships with three very different women. Will hopelessly attempts a PG version of his story for his daughter and changes the names so Maya has to guess who is the woman her father finally married. Is her mother Will’s college sweetheart the dependable girl next-door Emily (Elizabeth Banks)? Is she his longtime best friend and confidante the apolitical April (Isla Fisher)? Or is she the free-spirited but ambitious journalist Summer (Rachel Weisz)? As Maya puts together the pieces of her dad’s romantic puzzle she begins to understand that love is not so simple or easy. And as Will tells her his tale Maya helps him to understand that it’s definitely never too late to go back…and maybe even possible to find a happy ending. Bridget Jones’s Diary: In the screen adaptation of ‘Bridget Jones Diary’ Helen Fielding’s international best-selling phenomenon documentary filmmaker Sharon Maguire has managed a rare feat: a film as captivating as the novel! Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is a pretty and neurotic thirtysomething singleton (in her vernacular) who vows to take control of her life after being humiliated by handsome standoffish barrister Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) at her parents’ New Year’s party. Determined to lose weight and cut back on vices like wine cigarettes and workaholic-alcoholic-misogynistic men Bridget begins a diary to chart her progress. Unfortunately the P.R. executive hits a snag when her boss gorgeous cad Daniel (Hugh Grant) instigates a sexy e-mail flirtation. Despite her tendency to bungle book launch parties and any situation involving the ever-disapproving Mark Darcy Bridget’s winning combination of charm vulnerability and wit intrigues not only the seductively dangerous Daniel but also the arrogant barrister. Featuring a note-perfect performance by Zellweger a devilish one by