Fairy tales - do they come true? Well, rarely in real life.

Rating: 8/10 (29 November 2000)

It's the story that the whole world (well, the 99.99% of us who aren't famous) dream about. "Normal" people spend their lives reading about the lives of the famous, on posters, in magazines, knowing more about the lovelives of celebrities than their families.
Wanting to be famous, wanting to be with someone famous. The self-referential irony is delivered with a deft touch, Hugh Grant playing what he does so well, the diffident, slightly awkward, but immaculately enunciated and perfectly quiffed English upper-middle class gent. Stuttery, self-effacing, but don't Americans just love that.
And that's the key here. Four Weddings, part II. England for an American market, neatly packaged. It couldn't be anywhere, it had to be England. It couldn't be anyone, it had to be Hugh. (Again.)
That's not to say it's not a very well produced movie. It is. A great ensemble of British comic actors. Plenty of well known London landmarks for the locals to point at and empathise with. And a tight script that carries you through the two hours rather than dragging. Two hours is brave in this day an age, but why rush?
Julia Roberts continues to be a revelation. She isn't just a pretty face. She plays the part to its fullest - I did want to be William Thacker. I want to go buy a bookshop and have her visit.
Isn't that what movies are about? Showing you the world as it could be, not how it is. Sometimes that's dark and scary, sometimes it's light and happy.

I want to live in the movie W8 - you can keep the real world!