Enjoyable supporting cast, unlikable heroine

Rating: Null/10 (16 September 2002)

I've seen Notting Hill a few times now and tried to like it more. But despite the fact I admire Roger Mitchell's work and the supporting cast, I keep tripping over the fact the heroine is, for the most part, unlikable. This ruins the movie for me.

The film's premise is a good one. Likable, shy Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, owner of a Notting Hill travel bookstore. Like many people, he lives a quiet life that includes good friends and family. Not to mention a nutty flatmate (hilariously done by Rhys Ifins). But when Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) walks into his store, his world turns upside down.
SPOILERS
I truly wanted to like this couple. And I liked Hugh Grant's character. But I could not understand WHY a man would keep going back to a woman who treats him so poorly. Despite the fact she has a boyfriend (which she neglects to tell William), she doesn't seem to mind kissing him minutes after they've met.
We're supposed to feel sorry for this character who "has been on a diet for 10 years" and gets talked about by strangers in restaurants. We're supposed to feel sorry for her when nude photos of her end up in the news ("I was poor."). We're supposed to feel badly for her when hordes of photographers show up at William's flat when they find out she's there. We're supposed to forgive her when she gives him a verbal tongue lashing for "not understanding what it's like to be famous." Gimme a break, lady. You chose to be a star, take the good with the bad.
Then to overhear her tell a co-star on a movie set, "oh that was nobody" when Grant is invited to watch filming. I'm sorry, that's just too much. Roberts tries to pull at your heart strings with her "I'm just a girl" garbage but after almost two hours of hearing her whine about how "I'm special and nobody understands me", it simply doesn't wash. I give Robert credit for trying but the character is just too self-centered for me to like.
The bright spot of this film is the supporting cast. William's nutty sister who gushes over Anna at her birthday party is hilarious. Not to mention the stockbroker who is lousy at his job. I enjoyed watching this group interact with William much more than Anna. They were more real and more fun. Mitchell always seems to pick actors with great sparkle and humanity and he's done it again here. I just wish he could have chucked Anna and spent the movie on them instead.