Followers of The Aisle View know my feelings on romantic comedies: I loathe them. But for some reason, Love, Actually did not make me want to vomit like all the others.

Typically, when viewing a romantic comedy, the predictable scenarios and contrived dialogue make me feel like my soul is being sucked from my corporeal body. Love, Actually opens with scenes of people hugging and I began to mentally compose my will; but after the first ten minutes, the film began to win me over.

With no fewer than twelve different stories of love and relationships, Love, Actually doesn't have time for redundant jokes or insipid smarminess. The writing is very smart and it sparkles with tongue-in-cheek creativity. In the first scene of the actual film, Bill Nighly grudgingly records a Christmas-themed cover of "Love is All Around," (the song from Four Weddings and a Funeral). He is clearly disgusted by the schmaltziness of the whole affair, and his unchecked disgust for the project makes for one of the most hilarious stories in the film.

In addition to the Nighly story, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, and Liam Neeson each star in their own mini-plots. Each actor skillfully carves out dynamic, complex characters in a matter of moments which helps keep the story confusion to a minimum. However, those already familiar with who's who in the cast will benefit greatly.

It's nearly impossible to list all of the various intertwining stories of Love, Actually, but my favorites included: the young man who dreamed of going to Wisconsin where he would sleep with dozens of hot American girls who were immediately charmed by his, "cute accent," Hugh Grant as the neurotic and romantically tortured Prime Minister, and the complicated married couple played by Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman.

Not all of the stories are successful. Though I like Colin Firth immensely, and his Mark Darcy-esque performance was enjoyable, his story of a cuckolded husband who falls in love with his non-English-speaking housekeeper was a little contrived. His character's attempts at speaking Portuguese were funny, but the rest of the story was either boring or plagued by dramatic violin music. With a running time of over two-hours, Love, Actually would have benefited by dropping this story and re-using Colin Firth somewhere else.

One bad story out of twelve ain't bad especially when writer/ director Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones' Diary) displays a conscious love for his audience. When Hugh Grant (as the Prime Minister) danced around his living room to the Pointer Sister's "Jump for my Love," I swear the lady sitting behind me screamed like she was reliving a Beatles concert, and every scene with Colin Firth prompted a chorus of longing sighs.

I enjoyed Love, Actually more than I expected to mostly because of the constantly rotating series of stories and unique group of characters (I think the relationship between the two sex scene stand-ins is a cinematic first). I won't say that Love, Actually isn't painfully predictable or forcefully heartwarming, but it inflicts the usual tortures with thoughtful wit and decorum.

-Megan A. Denny