A 1999 must-see.

Rating: Null/10 (23 January 2000)

One of the purest examples of cinematic escapism, and no criticism meant; a romantic comedy for the Everyman and all of it quite plausible.
The role of super-actress Anna Scott is Julia Roberts' best performance since "The Pelican Brief," perhaps her best, period. We see Anna as William Thacker sees her (Hugh Grant), a luminous and fantastic interloper into the day-to-day humdrum, her every close-up a blaze of unreal beauty and we almost feel sorry for the guy--could even a real-life Hugh Grant deal with her? (Nevermind the rest of us, poor losers of the genetic lottery.) But sometimes goddesses *do* descend from Olympus (it isn't all paradise up their, either), and if Anna can find salvation in the ordinary and average, so can we. Even the below-mediocre will have their day; would that all slackers and derelicts had the charm of the out-to-lunch Spike, Thacker's roomie (an impeccable Rhys Ifans). Spike is a scene-stealer and never before has a funnier low-life ever graced the screen, so-to-speak.
But such stories can never be ours. So we buy tickets to the nearest thing possible, and sometimes it is worth it and other times not, but "Notting Hill" very much so.
And Julia, if you are reading this--would you care to have dinner with me sometime? ;)