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Notting Hill, 1999
William (Hugh Grant) lives a relatively mild life as the half-owner of a travel bookstore. But things are shaken up when he falls into a tentative romance with American movie star Anna (Julia Roberts) who is in town to promote her most recent film. Despite their growing affection for one another, Anna's fame constantly puts a strain on their relationship.
This is a fun romantic comedy confection that cruises along amiably on the charms of its lead actors and a deep slew of supporting characters.
I didn't get all of the fuss about Hugh Grant in the 90s, but now that I've gone back to watch some of his films from that era, I get it. I get it. He's adorable. Roberts also displays some really strong comedic timing. (When William, pretending to be a journalist from Horse & Hound asks why the film didn't feature more horses, she diplomatically answers, "Well we wanted to. But that would have been challenging as the film was set . . . in space.")
There are also plenty of fun supporting turns, including Dylan Moran (basically playing his character from Black Books?!) and Gina McKee and Tim McInnerny as William's good friends who have experienced some tragedies in the last two years.
When it comes to portraying Anna's movie star life, the film leans into the way that it can be easy to forget that famous people are, you know, people. This hits pretty hard twice in the film. The first is when Anna and William overhear a table of men talking about movie stars, and their remarks about Anna start out relatively innocuous and then take a turn for more hurtful comments about her alleged drug use and her sex life. Later in the film, some racy photos and a video of Anna surface, and she has to face the humiliation of them being made widely public. The film uses other characters to mitigate there being too much "woe is me" stuff, but still manages to get its point across.
For all the charm of the film, though, I found the will they/won't they nature of the story only medium interesting. While I liked both William and Anna overall, it didn't seem like their understanding of one another evolved all that much. After William has twice witnessed the emotional and mental strain that her public life has put on her, he basically tells her to just get over it. It doesn't seem like they reach a mutual place of respect outside of their initial affection. Really, neither character seems to change. Instead they bobble back and forth on whether or not to be together.
Generally speaking, this was a charming romantic comedy, even if at the end it does feel a bit empty.
+
Notting Hill, 1999
William (Hugh Grant) lives a relatively mild life as the half-owner of a travel bookstore. But things are shaken up when he falls into a tentative romance with American movie star Anna (Julia Roberts) who is in town to promote her most recent film. Despite their growing affection for one another, Anna's fame constantly puts a strain on their relationship.
This is a fun romantic comedy confection that cruises along amiably on the charms of its lead actors and a deep slew of supporting characters.
I didn't get all of the fuss about Hugh Grant in the 90s, but now that I've gone back to watch some of his films from that era, I get it. I get it. He's adorable. Roberts also displays some really strong comedic timing. (When William, pretending to be a journalist from Horse & Hound asks why the film didn't feature more horses, she diplomatically answers, "Well we wanted to. But that would have been challenging as the film was set . . . in space.")
There are also plenty of fun supporting turns, including Dylan Moran (basically playing his character from Black Books?!) and Gina McKee and Tim McInnerny as William's good friends who have experienced some tragedies in the last two years.
When it comes to portraying Anna's movie star life, the film leans into the way that it can be easy to forget that famous people are, you know, people. This hits pretty hard twice in the film. The first is when Anna and William overhear a table of men talking about movie stars, and their remarks about Anna start out relatively innocuous and then take a turn for more hurtful comments about her alleged drug use and her sex life. Later in the film, some racy photos and a video of Anna surface, and she has to face the humiliation of them being made widely public. The film uses other characters to mitigate there being too much "woe is me" stuff, but still manages to get its point across.
For all the charm of the film, though, I found the will they/won't they nature of the story only medium interesting. While I liked both William and Anna overall, it didn't seem like their understanding of one another evolved all that much. After William has twice witnessed the emotional and mental strain that her public life has put on her, he basically tells her to just get over it. It doesn't seem like they reach a mutual place of respect outside of their initial affection. Really, neither character seems to change. Instead they bobble back and forth on whether or not to be together.
Generally speaking, this was a charming romantic comedy, even if at the end it does feel a bit empty.
+