Richard Curtis dips, but will rise again

Rating: Null/10 (10 June 1999)

I am fresh from Notting Hill, hence my stodgy English diction, which is the source of so much of Richard Curtis's wonderful humor.
Notting Hill, as someone else has pointed out, relies heavily on the charm of its stars, and fortunately -- in my opinion -- they are both quite charming. The Hugh Grant scandal a few years back was a real tragedy, because Grant was poised to be the Cary Grant of the 1990s -- the star every romantic comedy writer or director wanted.
The scandal happened, though, and so Grant returned to Richard Curtis (or vice versa), and the result, while charming and pretty funny, has been rather accurately referred to as Four Weddings and Julia Roberts.
Not that that's a bad thing by any means ... and the sight of Julia Roberts reducing foppish Brits to fits and stammers is inherantly funny.
Once again, an odd assemblage of friends watches and ultimately helps Hugh Grant win the wayward, forever-leaving American beauty. If this is the formula, I hope they stop at a trilogy. Then again, if there can be six Star Wars movies, there can certainly be at least six Curtis/Grant collaborations. (Come to think of it, aren't there six Leprechaun movies?)
Curtis's script is strongest during the ensemble scenes, with the exception of one dinner scene where Anna (Roberts) has to prove she's more unhappy than anyone else at the table. She convinces the characters, but I doubt many of the real people in the audience were convinced.
Notting Hill has some brilliant exchanges. After William (Grant) helps Anna rehearse her latest script, an action movie (these are paraphrases), they have this one:
Anna: Henry James films never have lines talking about meeting at 1900 hours.
William: Yes, and in my view that is to their detriment.
In one scene William's friends invite him to spend the night, and he accepts by saying:
William: Yes, I suppose. There's nothing waiting for me at home but a masturbating Welshman.
It's funnier when Grant says it ... which again proves that charm is a big part of Notting Hill, and it has plenty of charm. Over all, it's inferior to Four Weddings, but it has two major improvements over the prior film:
1) Julia Roberts, at least in a Richard Curtis script, can act circles around Andie MacDowell.
2) Not every character has a happy ending.
Notting Hill is raking in big bucks as it emerges as the non-Phantom Menace movie of the summer. This should encourage more people to hire Richard Curtis, which is good. It should also encourage more people to hire Hugh Grant, which is also good.
And of course nobody needs encouragement to hire Julia Roberts, but if Notting Hill and My Best Friend's Wedding indicate she's seeking a great romantic comedy, I for one applaud her efforts so far and hope she keeps trying.