‘Notting Hill’ (1999) Review

Notting Hill Synopsis: The life of a simple bookshop owner changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world.

Twenty years ago, Julia Roberts had two romantic comedies released within two months of each other. The first was Notting Hill, where she played Anna Scott, a famous actress who found love with an awkward but charming Brit, played to perfection by Hugh Grant. The other was Runaway Bride, which featured the much-anticipated reunion between Roberts and her Pretty Woman co-star, Richard Gere. While both films were box office successes, Notting Hill won critical acclaim and remains Roberts’s best-reviewed romantic comedy.

Having recently re-watched Runaway Bride, I was disappointed that the movie didn’t quite hold up in my eyes in terms of romance or comedy the way it had in 1999 and the years after when I would pop in the DVD and watch it at home. Because of my recent less-than-enthusiastic reaction to Runaway Bride, I was reluctant to revisit Notting Hill for this review. I didn’t want to risk potentially ruining the magic I remember experiencing the first time I sat in a movie theater to watch Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant fall in love.

Suffice it to say, I had nothing to worry about. 20 years later, Notting Hill, written by Richard Curtis, holds up as both a romance and a comedy and is as charming and warm as ever, giving us a picturesque view of London and a gorgeous soundtrack.

Grant plays Will Thacker, a divorced travel bookshop owner who lives in Notting Hill with a scruffy layabout named Spike (Rhys Ifans). One day, while minding the store, Anna Scott, a famous American actress currently in London, walks in. Will recognizes her almost immediately and attempts to play it cool but instead finds himself bumbling through a sales pitch while cornering another customer for trying to shoplift a book by shoving it down his trousers.

Needless to say, Anna is charmed by Will’s bumbling ramblings and his lack of overt machismo and smarmy innuendo that she has grown used to from other men. After an impulsive kiss, Will and Anna find themselves in a somewhat secretive, whirlwind romance that takes us on an emotional rollercoaster that doesn’t end until the very last scene.

As much as I adore Grant as playboy sleazeball Daniel Cleaver in the Bridget Jones’s movies, I believe he’s truly at his best when he’s playing the stammering, affable everyman who wears his heart on his sleeve as he stumbles into love. Nobody does it better.

Julia Roberts is… well, Julia Roberts, complete with her megawatt smile and contagious laughter. She brings plenty of depth to Anna, flaws and all, and I suppose you could speculate or even assume that perhaps she brought a few of her own life experiences into the role, given that around the time the movie was being filmed, Roberts was by all accounts and purposes, the most famous actress in the world.

Despite Anna’s rather horrible behavior towards Will when their relationship is unceremoniously revealed to the world by Spike, Roberts expresses such softness and vulnerability when she attempts to win Will back that you forgive her much more quickly than he does. How could you not? Especially when Anna blesses us with one of the most romantic lines ever uttered in a rom-com:

“The fame thing isn’t really real, you know. And don’t forget, I’m also just a girl standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

I found the rest of the cast to be just as appealing and likable as the romantic leads. Will’s eccentric sister Honey (the late Emma Chambers) and his friends feel as though they’re us, the audience, star-struck and encouraging this rather unlikely romance as it blossoms. And even though Spike’s slobbery and complete lack of self-awareness is still as cringe-worthy now as it was 20 years ago, I have to admit that he’s also become rather endearing as a character as well.

I suppose it’s fair in some ways to compare Notting Hill to Four Weddings and a Funeral, also written by Curtis, but frankly, I find Notting Hill to be the far superior film. It’s more polished and funnier, and more importantly, Roberts and Grant’s sizzling chemistry is palpable and helps drive the believability of an otherwise unrealistic premise. They keep us emotionally invested in their journey, so much so that I was willing to overlook and, admittedly, maybe even celebrate the somewhat contrived ending.

Witty, poignant, delightfully funny, and romantic, I truly believe the time has come to call Notting Hill a classic.

Watched: 06/08/2019
Notable Song: She by Elvis Costello