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Notting Hill
Most of us film buffs fantasize either privately or with fellow buffs what it would be like to meet our favorite movie star. Well that fantasy comes to fruition in the form of a lovely date movie from 1999 called Notting Hill.
The setting is contemporary London where Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, the owner of a small bookstore, who actually meets and actually falls in love with a movie star who is in London to promote her new movie named Anna Scott (Julia Roberts).
This movie definitely scores some originality points by setting it on foreign soil and having Julia Roberts the only American playing a lead role. Richard Curtis' screenplay succeeds in making the character of William Thacker so likable that we are willing to accept the fact that what happens to this guy never happens to anyone in real life. The screenplay is also generously peppered with a lot of British slang that was completely new to me, but never felt the need for a British to American thesaurus to catch everything being said.
Curtis and director Roger Michell also do a first rate job of showing the different levels of celebrity obsession from non-existent to completely over-the-top. Both sides of this spectrum are cleverly observed during the scene where William takes Anna to his sister's birthday party. William's sister claims to know everything about Anna and already thinks they're BFF's while her boyfriend has a 20 minute conversation with Anna, not having a clue who she is. And I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I loved the fact that Anna seemed a little offended that the guy didn't know who she was.
I did find the character of Anna to be a bit of an enigma...she initiates this whole relationship with an unmotivated kiss and then spent the rest of the story making William jump through really big relationship hoops. I thought it strange of her to invite him to that press junket that she claimed she thought would be over by now. Or when they were playing the game at the dinner party trying to win the last brownie and she was trying to convince these folk how miserable her life has been...seriously? On the other hand, I have the feeling that the character of Anna Scott is the closest thing moviegoers have ever seen to the real Julia Roberts.
Still, the film is beautifully photographed and the chemistry between Grant and Roberts is positively kinetic...we want these two together from the minute they lay eyes on each other. Rhys Ifans also steals every scene he's in as William's nutty roommate. If you're looking for the ultimate date movie, look no further.
Most of us film buffs fantasize either privately or with fellow buffs what it would be like to meet our favorite movie star. Well that fantasy comes to fruition in the form of a lovely date movie from 1999 called Notting Hill.
The setting is contemporary London where Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, the owner of a small bookstore, who actually meets and actually falls in love with a movie star who is in London to promote her new movie named Anna Scott (Julia Roberts).
This movie definitely scores some originality points by setting it on foreign soil and having Julia Roberts the only American playing a lead role. Richard Curtis' screenplay succeeds in making the character of William Thacker so likable that we are willing to accept the fact that what happens to this guy never happens to anyone in real life. The screenplay is also generously peppered with a lot of British slang that was completely new to me, but never felt the need for a British to American thesaurus to catch everything being said.
Curtis and director Roger Michell also do a first rate job of showing the different levels of celebrity obsession from non-existent to completely over-the-top. Both sides of this spectrum are cleverly observed during the scene where William takes Anna to his sister's birthday party. William's sister claims to know everything about Anna and already thinks they're BFF's while her boyfriend has a 20 minute conversation with Anna, not having a clue who she is. And I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I loved the fact that Anna seemed a little offended that the guy didn't know who she was.
I did find the character of Anna to be a bit of an enigma...she initiates this whole relationship with an unmotivated kiss and then spent the rest of the story making William jump through really big relationship hoops. I thought it strange of her to invite him to that press junket that she claimed she thought would be over by now. Or when they were playing the game at the dinner party trying to win the last brownie and she was trying to convince these folk how miserable her life has been...seriously? On the other hand, I have the feeling that the character of Anna Scott is the closest thing moviegoers have ever seen to the real Julia Roberts.
Still, the film is beautifully photographed and the chemistry between Grant and Roberts is positively kinetic...we want these two together from the minute they lay eyes on each other. Rhys Ifans also steals every scene he's in as William's nutty roommate. If you're looking for the ultimate date movie, look no further.