Take 2 (Take 1 Date: 16 February 2003)

Rating: 9/10 (2 October 2004)

I have since purchased this movie on DVD, and watched it several more times. The supporting characters who make up William Thacker's (Hugh Grant's) world seem a bit less freakish with greater familiarity.
Moreover I now "get the point" that Thacker's genuine love for, and patient acceptance of, all these zany people -- even the shoplifter -- is precisely what Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) finds so appealing about him. He is that rare sort of guy who would love her and accept her, no matter what changes fate and time should bring. He would also love their children with equal if not greater devotion, not just because they are his, but because that is how he treats everyone in his life.
Perhaps this was a type of love that Scott had not realized was possible for her, something she had not even known to want until her chance meetings with Thacker. And this explains why she took such reckless risks to woo him.
Now that I "get it," I really like it.
*
Directors, even more than writers, confront a paradox of timing. They spend endless hours, weeks, and months planning, shooting, cutting, and tweaking a film, growing deeply intimate with every detail, including the ones left out.
But they must ultimately release their movie in a form that is perfectly comprehensible and engaging to the audience, so that people for whom it is all brand new can still get the whole thing in one unbroken take (there ain't no pause buttons in the multiplex). At least with a book (and now with DVDs) the consumer can re-read a passage or replay a line that did not connect the first time. But movies are still made for theaters, and must work there the first time, in real time.
The best movies do work the first time, but also reward repeat viewing with enhanced pleasure and deeper insight. But some very good movies, including this one, can only be fully appreciated after several viewings. This is yet another reason to be grateful for DVDs.
9/10