Notting Hill

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2005)

If you liked Four Weddings and a Funeral, then this follow up from writer Richard Curtis is a fantastic romantic comedy. Golden Globe nominated Hugh Grant returns from Four Weddings and a Funeral as William Thacker, an everyday normal unknown guy who works a pretty ordinary job in a travel book shop with Martin (James Dreyfus), and lives in Notting Hill with a curious flatmate named Spike (BAFTA nominated Rhys Ifans). (Oh, he had seen her films before he met her) Then one day the girl of his dreams, American movie star Anna Scott (Golden Globe nominated Julia Roberts, pretty much playing herself) walks into the shop, and they meet a second bumping into each other (and spilling orange juice) in the street. It is this second meeting that leads her to unexpectedly kiss him. A phone call from her is what allows another meeting, and a chance for them to set a date, when she's not busy, at William's younger sister's birthday, His friends, Max (Tim McInnerny) and his wife, disabled sister Bella (Gina McKee), Bernie (Hugh Bonneville), and of course, younger sister Honey (The Vicar of Dibley's Emma Chambers), who is most pleased to meet her. Many of the problems with fame crop up when they are together however, including some bastards (including Sanjeev Bhaskar) in a restaurant talking about her, autograph hunters, celebrity interviews, and for a little while worst of all, a secret boyfriend named Jeff King (Alec Baldwin in a cameo). Eventually though she comes back to his place when some new photos appear in all the newspapers, and she wants to escape the press for a while, this is when they get closer (and finally sleep together). But a little Spike chats to some mates in the pub, the press find her again, and they are apart again, it happens again at a film set for a new film where William overhears her shut him out in a conversation with a co-star. In the end though, after he finds his way into a press conference about the new film, he manages to seal their love, and they have a happy ending with a marriage, and all that comes with it, being a celebrity. Also starring, in order of appearance, Dylan Moran as Rufus the Thief, Mischa Barton as 12-Year-Old Actress, and if you look carefully you'll see Simon Callow as Himself in Film within Film, Omid Djalili as Cashier at Coffee Shop and EastEnders' Michael Higgs as Man at Market. This is not only a great comedy of embarrassing occurrences, involving two great stars, but it is good insight into the life of a celebrity, all that they have to go through in life when they are that famous, tough! It won the BAFTA for the Audience Award, and it was nominated for the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, it won the British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Film, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. Hugh Grant was number 73, and Julia Roberts number 29 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, Grant was also number 8 on The 50 Greatest British Films, and the film was number 95 on The Ultimate Film. Very good!