A perfect romantic comedy

Rating: 10/10 (25 May 2006)

A wonderful movie about celebrity meeting normality. Nothing Hill stars Hugh Grant, as a book store owner, whose life is changed when an international movie star, Anna, played by Julia Roberts, walks into his book store. By fate, William collides into Anna knocking his lunch all over her. William offers Anna the opportunity to clean up in his flat across the way. Anna agrees.
Suddenly William has an international celebrity in his house. He desperately tries to keep her there by offering everything in his refrigerator. Anna leaves, but comes back and they kiss. Seems a bit Hollywood, am I right? No, I'm wrong. Nothing Hill's a wonderful film from start to finish. William tracks Anna down, and they start dating.
The movie basically has the same premise as Woody Allen's wonderful Purple rose of Cairo, even though Purple rose leans more towards fantasy than reality. Both movies contain quiet, humble, perfectly normal people confronted by celebrities.
Nothing Hill perfectly nails the relationship between celebrity and normality. Not just on a romantic level, but on a general level as well. In a wonderful scene, Anna's invited to William's sisters Birthday party. At the table, she's filled with happiness and joy by how happy, and simple it is to be normal. Opposed to living the false life of celebrity. I'm sure 98 percent of society would love to be in Anna's position, but maybe being a celebrity is not what is appears to be. Not everyone thrives off celebrity, getting a great deal of pleasure out of the shallowness of fame and fortune. Not everyone worships their own celebrity status like the Paris Hilton's of the world.
But on a romantic level, Nothing Hill succeeds amazingly as well. Just seeing William and Anna walk down the road, sit together, in a restaurant together, has amazingly wonderful charm to it. It's easy to put your self in William's shoes and feel his pleasure and excitement, basically why I loved this movie so much. I felt William's excitement the same way Cecilia felt everyone's on screen in the Purple Rose of Cairo. I escaped my own normal existence through William's wonderful situation with Anna.
It must be every man's dream, especially a humble man like William's, to have a beautiful superstar walk into their life and fall in love with them. Oh, how'd I love for Natalie Portman to walk into my bookstore and kiss me. It won't happen, because A) I don't have a book store, and B) because reality bites. But why not dream? Anyway, William and Anna fall in love, share intimate moments, and the shallowness of celebrity mixes in. Anna pisses me off towards the end of the movie when the paparazzi show up at Williams's door snapping a photo of him in his boxers with her upstairs. Anna suddenly puts her career before the likes of William. Anna leaves, William mopes around, but his flat mate and sister track down Anna for him.
Of course, William tracks Anna down on a movie set a few months later after she wins an academy award, which Roberts would win in reality a year later for Erin Brockovich, but mistakenly hears her say a rather rude remark about him. Little does he know it was in character. But Anna, once again, returns to Williams's book store, confesses her love for him, he turns her down, his friends make him realize how dumb of a mistake it was, and then he tracks her down at a press conference. And they live happily ever after.
Of course, in reality, this probably wouldn't happen. But why couldn't it? Why can't celebrities and every day people fall in love? Like Anna says, she's just a small town girl. Nothing Hill's a wonderful movie no matter how you look at it. Everything about it's perfect. Julia Robert's and Hugh Grants best work. 10-10