The movie is a fairy tale, and writer Richard Curtis knows how much the public loves a fairy tale.
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It´s not that often you see two such well-known actors as Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant playing so close to type. In the 1999 romantic comedy "Notting Hill" Roberts plays a glamorous movie star with a kind and decent heart, and Grant plays a shy, common man with a kind and decent heart. Yet the result, in spite of the typecasting, is a warm, affectionate, mostly laid-back charmer of a film, a piece of fluff you´ll forget about two minutes after you watch it but during which you will probably enjoy every minute. The folks at Universal have seen fit to provide buyers with a special-edition two-disc set with plenty of bonus features to accompany the film.
The movie is a fairy tale, and writer Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") knows how much the public loves a fairy tale. Borrowing a title from the old Jerry Lewis flick, this one could easily have been called "Cinderfella." It involves the world´s most famous Hollywood star, Anna Scott (Roberts), dropping by one day to the tiny travel bookstore of William Thacker (Grant) on Portobello Road in London´s Notting Hill district. He is a thoroughly wholesome guy, intellectual, modest, quiet, self-effacing, and appealing; more important, he appears to be unaffected by her celebrity, and she seems to admire all of these qualities.
They meet again moments later when he inadvertently runs into her in the street, spilling orange juice over the front of her clothes. He invites across the street to his flat to change, she agrees, and although she stays only a few minutes, they strike up a mild friendship. When she leaves, William thinks of all the things he should have said to the world´s most beautiful and enchanting woman. She returns his favor that afternoon by inviting him to her hotel for tea; one thing leads to another, and before long he´s taking her to a birthday dinner party for his younger sister, Honey (Emma Chambers).
It´s all "surreal but nice," as William says, and quite amusing besides. I mean, how many times has a person fantasized about meeting a movie star or a prince or a princess and both falling instantly in love? And what would you say if you were suddenly thrown into such a circumstance for the first time?
Scriptwriter Curtis and director Roger Michell recognize that a simple romance isn´t enough, however, and populate their story with a variety of colorful supporting characters and the expected plot conflicts. We don´t get to see many of Anna´s friends, save an uncredited cameo appearance by Alec Baldwin as her American boyfriend, but among William´s close circle of friends and relatives are a delightful crew. As the sister, Honey, Ms. Chambers is wonderfully and endearingly dizzy, a Gracie Allen type. As William´s roommate, Spike, Rhys Ifans is the epitome of dumb, clumsy, and crude, but again in an endearing and never offensive way. Tim McInnerny plays William´s best friend, Max; Gina McKee plays Max´s wife invalid wife, Bella; and Hugh Bonneville plays the loquacious and slightly inept Bernie. Look, too, for uncredited cameos by Matthew Modine and Simon Callow. The plot complications arise as anticipated from William´s ordinariness and Anna´s fame, their ups and downs beginning to feel a little too contrived only by the movie´s second half.
I found "Notting Hill" as much fun this second time around on disc as I did when it was first released to theaters. Perhaps naively, I liked the idea that a rich and famous celebrity might be as down-to-earth and honest as Anna, recognizing as she does the fleeting nature of fame and that she is just a person inside, despite her price tag of $15,000,000 a picture. I liked the idea that there might be some people like William in our world, a fellow who doesn´t go hysterical with goddess worship and can see Anna as a real, albeit talented and gorgeous, human being. I liked the question the film asks about whether rich girls really ever do fall in love with poor boys. It´s the same question raised with different results and for more serious metaphoric reasons by F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Great Gatsby." Gatsby didn´t think rich girls fell for poor boys, and he was probably right. Anna may be attracted to William because of his unaffected manner and lack of pretense, a welcome change from Hollywood sham.
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