Highly likable, cute film with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2000)

OK, it shouldn't take a genius to figure out why this film was made - to capitalize on the cinema popularity of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in the late 1990s. On first viewing I thought "there isn't anything substantial here, but a good script and good acting make it a very enjoyable viewing, deserving a rating in the mid-7 to low-8 range". But after viewing it several additional times over the years I have come to appreciate it more, and it has become one of my favorites to re- watch. It has a lot more depth than I realized in my first viewing. Plus it contains a collection of great characters on the British side of the casting.
Grant plays a shy and unassuming bookstore owner in Notting Hill section of London. Julia Roberts plays an American movie star, and the film is about their romantic possibilities. If you are a "romantic" and like to see two young lovers try and figure it out, then this is a very enjoyable film. I think most of us men can identify with Grant's character, even though the object of our affection perhaps was not a movie star.
The DVD extras shows a bit about the "making of" Notting Hill. Of interest to me, even though street shots of the Notting Hill area are used, all the filming "inside the bookstore" was done in a studio on a set created to look like the bookstore.
I now (2016) own the BluRay version and the picture and sound are a definite improvement over the DVD, plus the "extras" are a bit different. This remains one of my favorite movies.