Not particularly good remake of Four Weddings

Rating: 2/10 (3 June 1999)

Part of the problem with this film was that I felt that I had seen it all before. Which, of course, I had in Four Weddings. Slightly pathetic, floppy-haired middle-class Englishman falls for glamorous American who rejects him them gets back together with him and has a group of friends suffering from various disabilities (though being black or Asian was clearly thought too severe a disability to be shown in a PG film).
The rest of the problem I had with Notting Hill was that it wasn't very good. Not even as good as Four Weddings, which at least had some funny lines about relationships and marriage in the modern world and had the neat device of dividing the film into: four weddings and a funeral. No neat devices here - though there is a nice tracking shot showing Grant walking through Portobello Road as the seasons pass. Still no sign of any black people though (though last time I went there they made up about 40% of the population).
Meanwhile, Hugh Grant plays Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts plays Julia Roberts, some Welsh guy plays Grant's Welsh flatmate who is only funny if you think that one-dimensional caricatures who are unfeasibly idiotic are deeply witty.