Heartwarming / Love Actually

Love Actually

All I want for Christmas is you

• The whole movie is practically made of heartwarming moments, but for a small and subtle one: Daniel is Sam's stepfather, and all through the movie Sam has called him Daniel... right up until Daniel says they have to follow Joanna to the airport, to which Sam says, "Okay, Dad." He then immediately follows it up with a Funny Moment by adding, "Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love."
  • Joanna pointing to Sam for a split second when she's singing "All I Want For Christmas Is You". His smile is absolutely adorable!
  • Fridge Brilliance - he's the first person she points to, and it's of course revealed that she did feel the same way. So that wasn't just part of the show - it was her telling him without actually telling him.
• Less subtly, Daniel's crush on Claudia Schiffer is a Running Gag in the movie (and played into a Refuge in Audacity Funny Moment in a cut scene). Shortly after the scene where Sam calls him Dad, Daniel bumps into a Claudia Schiffer lookalike (played by herself, naturally). The attraction is clear, mutual, and leaves him stammering... and he still focuses on getting Sam to the airport instead. And then, in the month later epilogue she's at the airport with them when Joanna gets back.
  • There's a brief shot of Sam and another boy who is presumably the Claudia Schiffer lookalike's son clearly taking note of her and Daniel's instant attraction. Instead of being impatient or annoyed at this turn of events, the boys merely catch each other's eye and exchange excited smiles, both clearly delighted that their respective guardian has found a potential love interest. It counts for Sam especially since he's Daniel's stepson and his mother had only recently passed away and, as noted above, is implied to have only just begun thinking of Daniel as a true father and thus could easily be forgiven for not wanting Daniel to move on (at least for a while). The two boys are also clearly getting along fine in the epilogue as they're waiting for Joanna at the airport.
• Juliet pops over to Mark's to pick up the wedding tape Mark made, which Mark desperately tries to claim he's misplaced and taped over, provokes Juliet to call him out on never liking her. As she watches the tape, she notes that not only is Mark making her look good, he has no moments where she's not on camera. She gradually realizes, to her shock, that the reason he's distant to her isn't because he hates her, but because he's in love with his best friend's wife.
  • Mark admitting to Juliet via cue-cards that he does love her, but ends with closure that he's going to put his feelings aside, because his friendship to Peter is what's important.
    Mark: Enough. Enough now.
• Probably more of a Tear Jerker than heartwarming, but the scene where Karen confronts her husband for giving a gold necklace to another woman who he may or may not be having an affair with.
  "Would you stay, knowing life would always be a little bit worse? Or would you cut and run?"
  • What is heartwarming (in an admittedly bizarre kind of way) is the fact that Harry neither tries to deflect the accusation nor attempts to shift the blame for the situation onto anyone else but himself, despite the fact that the two of them are still in a relatively public setting. Instead, he fully and readily acknowledges what an idiot he's been and the hurt he's put Karen through. There's also the fact that, while he didn't give her the necklace, the present he did ultimately give Karen wasn't just some thoughtless meaningless trinket but was instead something that, under any other circumstance, would have been a lovely present specifically for Karen in its own right. It all subtly proves in its own way that, for all Karen's understandable fears, the affair with Mia isn't "a necklace and love" and that Harry, while potentially destroying the stability of his marriage forever with his actions, still primarily cares about his family.
• A rather subtle one when the Prime Minister sneaks into the Christmas concert and runs into his sister (Karen, as listed above, who has just found out about the necklace thing). She's shocked to see him and gives him this huge bear hug, visibly on the verge of tears, thinking he's there to see her kids perform- and clearly needing someone to lean on.
• Jamie's proposal at the end, especially with a whole group of people following him to the restaurant. In particular, Jamie trying to confess his feelings to Aurelia in broken Portuguese...only for her to answer in equally-broken English, which she learned "just in cases". Aww!
• Daisy's school's act in the talent show. It's ridiculously cute.
• After Billy Mack makes #1, he's invited to a party at Elton John's, and we see his loyal manager sitting alone at Christmas. Then there's a knock at the door...and it turns out to be Billy, who's decided to abandon the party in order to spend Christmas with his one die-hard fan.
• The opening voice-over monologue, reminding us that life is actually pretty good after all.
• ...And of course, the genuine displays of love and affection by the real people at Heathrow during the opening and at the end. Including several Muslim families (just two years after 9/11), because they were British too, and love actually is all around.
• A cut second scene between Sarah and her brother Michael, whilst still a tear jerker, shows them actually having a brief conversation; reminiscing about childhood Christmases and their Mum's terrible cooking.
• Whilst trying to find Natalie's house, one house answers the door and it's three little girls, who ask David to sing them a Christmas Carol. He obliges, to their immense joy. His copper even joins in, and has a great singing voice!
• Knocking on yet another door reveals Mia of all people who is surprised at who just knocked her door.
  Mia: You're not who I think you are, are you?
  PM: Yes, I'm afraid I am—and I'm sorry about all the cockups. Not my fault, my cabinet are absolute crap. We hope to do better next year.
  Mia: Actually, I think you're brilliant.
  PM: Really?
  • She even tells him that Natalie is next door to hers.
• And what prompts David to go and find Natalie? Getting a Christmas card from her, which she signs "your Natalie".
• Laura Linney later revealed that she and Rodrigo Santoro had both recently been dumped when filming the movie, so she said to him "We get to spend all day making each other feel better." She also says no one should feel sorry for Sarah as she got easily the best kiss in the movie.

Red Nose Day Actually

• Pretty much the entire segment with Daniel and Sam. The two of them are so close now that if one hadn't seen the original film, there'd be no way to know that Sam isn't Daniel's biological son.

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