Played strict by genre rules

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 1999)

A straightforward romantic comedy. In many ways this characterisation sums up both the strengths and weaknesses of this film. It is disappointingly non-experimental and plays the genre strict by the rules, but these rules work fairly well and here we have the good cast that is needed to pull it off.
There are quite a few details in the script that are rather questionable. For example, if Anna is this big Hollywood star, then - how does she manage to walk unnoticed through the streets of London, with not one paparazzo in sight? And why do we have (in contrast) an army of photographers at William's house when the source of their information was merely a rumour spread by his flatmate Spike down the local pub?
One of the big pluses of this movie is its largely British supporting cast, especially Rhys Ifans is a treat. As so often in this genre the supporting cast is not given enough to do. The film hardly touches the stories of these characters, we only get the odd bit of inconsequential information. That is a shame, because one could have used these characters to add interest in the story .