Everyone's romantic fantasy

Rating: 9/10 (3 February 2004)

Just about any Romantic film that comes out of Hollywood is practically pure fantasy. Knowing that doesn't deter us from watching films like Casablanca and wishing we could be either Bogart or Bergman, seeing Gone With The Wind for the millionth time and viewing ourselves as Gable or Leigh or sailed on the Titanic as DiCaprio or Winslet. Who hasn't gone through adolescence and at some point daydreamed about the possibilities of meeting and falling in love with your favorite film star? It is this fantasy that Notting Hill fulfills for us in a wonderful romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.
As William Thacker, Hugh Grant plays the average everyday sort of guy who owns and operates a travel book store in the Notting Hill section of London. On a day that starts out as any other, famous film star Anna Scott(Roberts) wanders into his book shop. After Anna has some juice spilled on her, William offers to let her use her flat to clean up. She seems to be appreciative of William's help, even if he is quite the bungler who hardly knows what to say in her presence. When she leaves his apartment, William is sure his brief brush with a star has come and gone, but surprisingly Anna calls and invites him to a press junket at her hotel. From here, the romance begins but it is not going to be an easy path to love. There are plenty of pitfalls and hurdles on the path to true love in any romance, but they are magnified ten times over in a relationship such as this.
Hugh Grant may not be every person's cup of tea but in Notting Hill he truly shines. He plays William as an ordinary everyday kind of guy, who loves has family no matter how strange and quirky they may be, is willing to put up with his very strange roommate Spike (Rhys Ifans), and though well aware of Anna's stardom is still able to see she is a person who has emotions just as you or I or he does. He enables us to believe that he is falling in love with the person and not the name. As for Julia Roberts, I have no idea how much of her character is based on her own real personality, but it wouldn't be a stretch to say she has included at least some of her own self into her role as Anna. There are times when she seems truly vulnerable, and at other times she seems unable to let the real person of Anna show for fear of being compromised in some manner. In one of the film's best moments, at a dinner with Williams family, Anna gives a speech about stardom and how sometimes it's not what it's cracked up to be. It's a revealing moment, and there is no doubt that she could easily be talking about Julia Roberts and not just Anna Scott.
The supporting cast in this film is also remarkable. Rhys Ifan's Spike is about as dingy a character as one would ever want to meet and simply hilarious. There is also a touching sub-story beautifully played out about William's friend Max (Tim McInnery)and his wheelchair bound wife Bell(Gina Mckee). They have several moments together in this film that will easily touch your heart. As William's sister Honey(Emma Chambers)is almost as quirky as Spike, but shows a bit more emotional depth. Alec Baldwin makes a brief appearance as Anna's boyfriend, and handles the part of your basic "too big of a star jerk" quite well.
Director Roger Michell gives us some wonderfully staged scenes in this film and each one is played out with perfection. When William goes to meet Anna for the first time at her hotel, he is mistaken for a writer and is made to interview the other stars from Anna's film. Later, when he takes Anna to meet his family and friends, it is a birthday party you won't soon forget.
Yes, like all romantic comedies, Notting Hill is a fantasy film, but it shares and fulfills a certain kind of romantic fantasy we have all wished for at some time in our life. A truly wonderful film.
My Grade: A