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Notting Hill [HD DVD] [1999] [US Import]
![Notting Hill [HD DVD] [1999] [US Import]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qtvdQQgyL._SL160_.jpg)
Our Price: £5.82 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
They don't really make many romantic comedies like Notting Hill anymore--blissfully romantic, sincerely sweet, and not grounded in any reality whatsoever. Pure fairy tale, and with a huge debt to Roman Holiday, Notting Hill ponders what would happen if a beautiful, world-famous person were to suddenly drop into your life unannounced and promptly fall in love with you. That's the crux of the situation for William Thacker (Hugh Grant), who owns a travel bookshop in London's fashionable Notting Hill district. Hopelessly ordinary (well, as ordinary as you can be when you're Hugh Grant), William is going about his life when renowned movie star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) walks into his bookstore and into his heart. After another contrived meeting involving spilled orange juice, William and Anna share a spontaneous kiss (big suspension of disbelief required here), and soon both are smitten. The question is, of course, can William and Anna reconcile his decidedly commonplace bookseller existence and her lifestyle as a jet-setting, paparazzi-stalked celebrity? (Take a wild guess at the answer.) Smartly scripted by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and directed by Roger Michell (Persuasion), Notting Hill is hardly realistic, but as wish fulfilment and a romantic comedy, it's irresistible. True, Roberts doesn't really have to stretch very far to play a big-time actress who makes $15 million per movie, but she's more winning and relaxed than she's been in years, and Grant is sweetly understated as a man blindsided by love. Together, in moments of quiet, they're a charming couple, and you can feel her craving for real love and his awe and amazement at the wonderful person for whom he has fallen. The only blight on the film is its overbearing pop soundtrack, though Elvis Costello's heart-wrenching version of "She" gets poignant exposure. With Rhys Ifans as Grant's scene-stealing, slovenly housemate and Alec Baldwin in a sly, perfectly cast cameo. --Mark Englehart
Everything comes together...
Review date: 2008-06-29 Rating: 10 out of 10
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.
Similar Products
- Four Weddings And A Funeral [1994]
- Pretty Woman (15th Anniversary Special Edition) [1990]
- Love Actually [2003]
- Bridget Jones's Diary [2001]
- About a Boy [2002]
Reviews
It's no worse really than the other rubbish rom coms I've seen by this stable
Review date: 2008-02-08 Rating: 2 out of 10
As above - please don't ask me to waste more good words on this puny rubbish.
Very Enjoyable
Review date: 2007-09-28 Rating: 10 out of 10
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
Very funny
Review date: 2007-06-06 Rating: 10 out of 10
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.
Demonstrates to the extreme that love can occur between the most unlikely of people
Review date: 2007-05-05 Rating: 8 out of 10
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.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Rhys Ifans
Hugh Grant
James Dreyfus
Julia Roberts
Richard McCabe
Director(s):
Recording label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
EAN: 0025195012775
Binding: HD DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: AC-3, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen,
Release date: 2007-08-28
Universal product code (UPC): 025195012775
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Running time: 124 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1999-05-28
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Original Language)
Language: French (Dubbed)