Notting Hill (1999)
May 21, 2024 4:19 PM - Subscribe

A set of circumstances makes Anna Scott, a famous actress, fall in love with William Thacker, owner of a bookstore in Notting Hill. But the paparazzi's fascination with her complicates their bond. [IMDB] [Letterboxd]

The team behind Four Weddings and a Funeral follows up that unexpected smash with another Transatlantic romance as mega-movie star Julia Roberts falls for mild-mannered English bookseller Hugh Grant. [Movie Locations, the people who will help you find the Blue Door]
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs (4 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I mean, comfort food for us.
posted by billsaysthis at 10:58 PM on May 21


It's comfort food but has some nice story elements; the gulf between fame and life, how the past will haunt. The changing seasons montage on a rewatch has little story bits that otherwise don't get touched on.
This is the Julia Roberts film that probably has nearly all Julia possibilities-- quietly witty, glam, sexy, vulnerable, astronaut in a wicked bob, as girl next door as she will ever get, believably furious. I'm always impressed by how her thousand watt smile utterly transforms her entire being, she glows.
Hugh is at peak rumpled bumbling cutey, Geena McKee and Tim McInnerny make a lovely couple, and of course Rhys Ifans and his proud sagging tidywhities; Dylan Moran perfectly slimey.

Favorite bits: "it takes place on a submarine", "it's not Henry James" but the final film is, and how the dialogue changes to reflect the type of film being made: "the most indiscrete man in England".
Least favorite bits: the inevitable overused song, and the inevitable chase through some space because we've just got to make this love thing happen, and the ending which seems to imply ultimate happiness means babytime.
posted by winesong at 3:49 PM on May 22 [1 favorite]


He's here for Horse and Hound magazine!!

I love this movie. The dinner party scene is perfection to me - one of my favorite parts of the movie is Thacker's circle of friends. It always seemed to me that Anna wanted that circle of friends almost as badly as Thacker himself. The relationships feel real and fully fleshed out, although maybe that's because I've seen it a dozen times.
posted by hepta at 7:17 AM on May 23 [5 favorites]


Oh my god when the friend is asking her about acting and saying "good for you!".... I think about that all the time.
posted by cider at 7:23 PM on May 25


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