Of King Lear, Lionel Trilling said it is not enough that there is one broken man wandering the earth in despondency and madness; there must be two. For Richard Curtis, director of Love Actually, it is not enough that there is one absurd love story tugging at the heart strings of good-hearted holiday moviegoers; there must be seventeen.
It's like splenda on frosted flakes.
With Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Laura Linney, Colin Firth. . . . many others: 17 x 2 = 34, and some of the stories involve, you know, triangles. Terrible, just terrible.