Entertainment
The Worst Christmas Movie Everyone Loves, Horrible People And Awful Romances
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
The romantic comedy used to be a mainstay of theaters, and there’s plenty of blame to go around for how it’s now a genre on life support, but I place the blame squarely at the feet of Love Actually. At one point in time, it was considered the greatest rom-com of all time and one of the best romantic movies ever made, but now it’s correctly recognized as a horrible film with horrible messages about horrible people doing horrible things to one another. But every year, with the same sort of grim inevitability as Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” the film is in the streaming top ten.
Love Actually Would Never Be Made Today
There are ten distinct stories throughout Love Actually, and admittedly, a few are rather cute and endearing, starting with a down-on-his-luck musician, Mack (Bill Nighy), who suddenly has a hit song again and opts to spend Christmas with his manager, Joe, instead. It’s short, simple, and comes down to friendship. If the film had more stories like this one or the story of John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page), which captures the awkwardness of moving into a new relationship, then it would be a classic film for all the right reasons, but instead, there are two stories that drag the whole thing down into the mud.
Juliet (an 18-year-old Keira Knightley) and Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are newly married when it comes to light that Mark (Andrew Lincoln) is in love with his best friend’s new wife. Mark confesses, admittedly, it’s adorable with printed cards and a boombox, but in any other movie, he’d be the villain, or Peter would turn out to be abusive instead of here, where he’s shown to be a loving, caring spouse. Love Actually manages to go even further, though, and has Juliet give Mark a kiss after his confession, so while she doesn’t accept him or leave her husband, she still kisses her new husband’s best friend instead of telling him to get off her lawn.
Mark’s confession was considered a sweet romantic moment for dozens of Hollywood montages, but as underhanded as it seems, it’s not as problematic as the most infamous storyline in Love Actually. Hugh Grant plays David, the Prime Minister of England, hosting the American President, played by Billy Bob Thornton, when the President makes lewd comments about Natalie, one of the British staffers. It gets worse when Natalie lets David know she loves him, and they actually give in and share a kiss despite the obvious problem of a boss getting involved with one of his staff.
That’s only four out of the 10 stories, which also include a brief tryst that would fit in any rom-com, a British man realizing he’s an exotic foreigner to women in America and winds up going home from a bar with women played by January Jones and Elisa Cuthbert to their roommate, Shannon Elizabeth, and a sweet story of a father and son each discovering love. After watching Harry Potter, one Love Actually story about cheating is enjoyable on one level, and one level only, because it has Alan Rickman cheating on Emma Thompson, so try and imagine it as Professor Snape cheating on Professor Trelawney.
Love Actually Misses The Point
There’s an argument to be made that the purpose of Love Actually wasn’t to be a feel-good romantic comedy but instead a way to show the messiness inherent in all relationships. On that level, it’s a complete miss, given the epilogue shows David, again, the Prime Minister of England, kissing his younger employee, and Peter, Mark, and Juliet are all shown at the airport waiting for a friend, which means that no one told Peter what happened. Normally, I try not to spoil anything, but we are only on this planet for a finite amount of time, and to be precise, none of that should be spent watching this movie.
Love Actually murdered the romantic comedy and somehow convinced director Garry Marshall, who had nothing to do with the movie, that there was money to be made with this format, but applied to other Holidays, giving us Valentine’s Day in 2010, New Year’s Eve in 2011, and Mother’s Day in 2016. There are better options out there, though I’ll admit that New Year’s Eve is probably the best of the bunch, and as with most rom-coms, there are still parts that don’t hold up, but nothing is nearly as bad as the 2003 film.
If you want to watch Love Actually to see how bad the film really is and how horrible most of the characters are, you can find it on Amazon Prime, where it’s been in the top ten for a few days now. Instead, it would help if you streamed a better Christmas movie, like Christmas with the Cranks or Four Christmases, both of which are better than Love Actually.
Entertainment
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NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 2, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will require some knowledge of popular U.S. sports and pop culture.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: A Pittsburgh Athlete
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Green: Seen on an MLB Scorebug
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Blue: Teams in the PWHL Playoffs
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Purple: Horse Racing Triple Crowns
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #585 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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A Pittsburgh Athlete: PANTHER, PENGUIN, PIRATE, STEELER
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Seen on an MLB Scorebug: COUNT, INNING, OUTS, SCORE
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Teams in the PWHL Playoffs: CHARGE, FLEET, FROST, VICTORIE
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Horse Racing Triple Crowns: AFFIRMED, CITATION, JUSTIFY, WHIRLAWAY
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for May 2, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:
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Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
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Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
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Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
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Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
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Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Less Than (6): Everything in this space must be less than 6. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally.
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Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically; 2-5, placed vertically.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.
Number (15): Everything in this space must add up to 15. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically; 1-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally.
Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally; 0-1, placed horizontally.
Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
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