DVD : Notting Hill [1999]

Rating: - Everything comes together...
I have a confession to make: I didn't really enjoy Pretty Woman that much, and Four Weddings and a Funeral (not to mention Mickey Blue Eyes, Two Weeks Notice and About a Boy) didn't really do it for me.

However, in Notting Hill, as far as I am concerned, everything comes together for Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, delivering a landmark in the gentle countryside of romantic comedy.

This is not the only time that Julia Roberts plays a version of herself -- she knowingly sends herself up in Ocean's Twelve. And this is not the only time Hugh Grant has played this particular character -- heck, it's the good-natured but over-witty English fopp he always plays. But the pairing of these two well-honed characters is exactly right in this movie, and nothing short of magic results. This is clear in the achingly sharp set pieces, such as when Grant pretends to be a journalist, and in the tenderly heart wrenching moments, such as when Grant overhears Roberts say he doesn't mean anything to her, and when she brings him the Chagall painting, and stands there smiling her trade-mark smile, as if it's the only argument she has left, while he rejects her.

What is remarkable about this film is that nothing very much really happens, there are not very many jokes, and love is discussed very little. Nonetheless, by the end I feel wrung through by the passion and emotion, and yet hugely entertained throughout. Cinema should show rather than tell, and this film does that better than any other romantic comedy I have ever seen. What's more, it's a film you can watch again and again, and desperately hope ever time that they will get together, even though it looks like they never will (and it carries on looking like that, despite knowing how it ends).

In addition to all this, the film has Hugh Grant's iconic walk through Notting Hill market, as the seasons change around him and his sister appears in arguments with three different men, while 'Ain't no sunshine when she's gone...' plays.

Utterly superb.

---

Rating: - It's no worse really than the other rubbish rom coms I've seen by this stable
As above - please don't ask me to waste more good words on this puny rubbish.

---

Rating: - Very Enjoyable
This film really continued the trend of enjoyable rom-coms from the UK film market. There have been many more since from the "Ricard Curtis age" as some now call it, including - Four Weddings and Funeral, Love Actually and About a Boy

---

Rating: - Very funny
This was a lot better than i thought it would be. It's very funny and has a good storyline. Well acted and well written, thumbs up.

---

Rating: - Demonstrates to the extreme that love can occur between the most unlikely of people
Not usually impressed with Romantic Comedies, i found this one strangely compelling. It really was a nice movie, littered with great characters, especially Spike played by Rhys Ifans (Hilarious).

The story demonstrates to the extreme that love can occur between the most unlikely of people, and the humorous portrayal of this, is both touching and realistic. And i mean realistically created, not necessarily true realism.

Worthy of your attention, this well written romantic comedy is a must for fans of the genre and is a good gamble if your not.