Notting Hill (1999)

Notting Hill (1999)

7/10

Starring

Julia Roberts

Hugh Grant

Hugh Bonneville

Emma Chambers

Directed by Roger Michell

Julia Roberts over the years of her acting career has done some of the best love stories. This one Notting Hill is one of them, the screenplay/script is soft, lovely, smooth sailing and hits all the right spot with its comedy. This Rom-Com does not come out cheesy, but carves a place of its own on the wall of Rom-Coms which will forever be classics. Seeing it again in 2020, the movie still holds up and the comedy is still very light and beautiful.

Notting Hill is every young man’s fantasy. Falling in love with a beautiful movie star and having her love you back. I like the way the movie did not make Julia Robert’s character Anna perfect. She was not perfect, neither was she an over the top diva and neither was Hugh Grants character Will perfect he too had his quirks.

The plot has Anna a popular film actress walk into the a book store owned by divorcee Will in Notting Hill. Their meet was not spectacular and when Will accidentally spills a drink on Anna, she follows him home to get cleaned up (his home was not far from where it happened) and she impulsively kisses him. She then ask him to meet her at her Hotel and there Will is mistaken for the press and had to interview her which was funny. It was there they agreed to go out, as Anna asked to be Will’s date to his sisters birthday. Will’s family were blown away with meeting Anna for the first time and knowing she was a popular actress.

Their secret relationship soon became known to the press and Anna freaked out and her behavior towards Will at the time was totally uncalled for. Which places them in an awkward situation and we the viewers wondering how they will be able to patch it up again.

I have to give the director credit for bring this amazing screenplay to life in the most well crafted way. But majority of the credit should go to the man who wrote the amazing script, Richard Curtis. He is the BAFTA and Oscar nominated script writer of the Rom-Com Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) which also starred Grant as the leading man.

He also wrote the movie Mr. Bean (1997), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and its 2004 sequel The Edge of Reason. And I cannot forget his directorial debut in the 2003 movie he also penned Love Actually.

Not to forget the musical score and the movie soundtrack, this movie has one of the coolest soundtrack albums you could buy.

Like a lot of Curtis Rom-Coms this movie was a box office success. The movie is seen by critics and audience as a masterpiece and you will enjoy seeing it anytime. The film received three Golden Globes nominations for Best Motion Picture, Best Actor for Grant and Best Actress for Roberts.