Charming and Enjoyable

Rating: 7/10 (6 August 1999)

Roger Michell's "Notting Hill," from a screenplay by Richard ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") Curtis is a charming, engaging little movie that fortunately gets saddled with two stars with real chemistry. Julie Roberts plays, somewhat ironically, a famous American movie star who, through a series of enjoyable contrivances, keeps running into a foppish, handsome travel bookstore owner (played by Hugh Grant). The screenplay is rather stereotypical, but Curtis doesn't write these two characters off; they are intelligent, literate, and we get a sense that they truly fall for one another. My major quip towards the film was that I did not care for the ending; it's the same old thing and, frankly, I'm getting a little tired of it. Rated PG-13. 123 minutes. 7 out of 10.