Notting Hill

Notting Hill stars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant as two people who fall in love. There's nothing particularly special about that scenario until you take into account the fact that she is Anna Scott, the most famous film star in the world, and he is William Thacker, an ordinary chap who runs a travel bookshop in London. One day, Anna walks into his shop and they meet. He recognises her, of course, and is awe-struck, but handles the situation fairly well. Later on he manages to spill orange juice all over her in the street, and that leads to a hilarious scene in his rather untidy home. Well, at least they've met now, but how can an ordinary guy like William go out with such a famous film star? Their lives are so vastly different; could it possibly work? This is what the film tries to show us. We follow Anna and William through several days of romancing around London while they get to know each other. We see her meet his friends and family, and observe their wide range of reactions to the situation, from a guy who doesn't recognise her at all, to William's sister who embarrasses herself by following Anna into the toilet by accident. Incidentally, this is one of those rare films in which people actually go to the toilet. Which brings me to the point about why I liked this film so much; it's so natural.

The screenplay was written by Richard Curtis who also wrote Four Weddings and A Funeral, and several British TV comedy series'. He has a talent for writing natural and very funny dialogue, the kind of material which Hugh Grant is so good at performing. This, coupled with the acting talent of William's friends, family, flatmate and, of course, Roberts, the film is charming and completely believable. These characters are so loveable that I found myself hoping the film would last all day, not something that happens often. Of course, I might be biased here because I'm from London myself, and I was very at home watching them eating toast and reading familiar newspapers.

One of the things I liked best about Grant's character was the fact that he fell in love with Anna the girl, and not the film star. Faced with the possibility of dating such a rich and famous person, how many ordinary guys would stop to consider for one moment that they might get their hearts broken? I should think that many men would use the situation for everything they could get from it and never mind about all the heart stuff, but not William. He doesn't care about her fame, her fortune or the press hounding them, after all, today's newspapers are tomorrow's dustbin liners. Like Anna herself, he sees the glitter and glamour for what it really is — nothing of any real importance. Unlikely? No, I don't think so. This film gets top marks.