10 Reasons Love Actually Gets Us into the Holiday Spirit

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

8. Christmas Shopping Season

Shopping for the holidays can really truly make everyone a little angry. There are a million people in the stores and the sales don’t even make it worth it in the long run. It is a miserable time and the later you wait to do your shopping the worse it gets.

But in Love Actually there is an amazing scene when Alan Rickman’s character is trying to buy a gift for his secretary. His wife (Emma Thompson) is also shopping in the store and he is trying to do it quickly so that she doesn’t catch him. But Mr. Bean has a different idea.

Rowan Atkinson plays a clerk who is making Alan’s life miserable, and we’ve all experienced someone like him. He just wants to help and make sure that this present is perfect. That idea makes Rickman antsy and nervous and the whole scene just makes the audience anxious about their own shopping.

That is really the only scene we get with Christmas shopping, but it is really all we need to get that experience out of the movie. Later on, Rickman goes back to purchase the necklace, but that is all we see of Rowan torturing him in the store.