Notting Hill
(1999)
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Two features 'About A Boy' Will Freeman, a shallow thirty-something bachelor, lives a carefree life courtesy of his deceased father's fortune. Will is terrified of commitment and so decides that single mothers will make the easiest romantic targets... His world is turned around when he meets Marcus, a twelve year old boy. Marcus teaches Will that there is much more to life than loafing around in his London flat and worrying about the latest trends and fashions... Based on the best selling novel by Nick Hornby. 'Notting Hill' A famous actress in disguise in London runs into a divorced bookstore owner. They strike up a friendship with each other as they each find something that was previously missing from their own lives. |
The Four Weddings team produced another smash with this charming tale about a bumbling bookshop owner (Hugh Grant) who falls for the “most famous actress in the world” (Julia Roberts). Inevitably, the course of true love is a bumpy road, with friends, family and flatmates getting in the way, but that's the cue for a series of screamingly funny scenarios. Saturated with wit and well directed by Roger Michell, the film was bashed by sceptics for its fluffiness and lack of realism (for a racially mixed area of London, there's not a black face to be seen). But, if you can accept the context as 100 per cent white middle class, with a light-hearted commentary on the nature of celebrity, it's an intensely enjoyable experience.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Slight but clever and often funny romantic comedy, making witty use of national stereotypes.