The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 180 Days to go: 182
Movie #197: Notting Hill
“Tempting, but no.” That’s just one of the many, many great lines from Notting Hill, and it’s most definitely the one I say most often in my everyday life.
That’s the thing about Notting Hill, though. It’s a romantic comedy about an ordinary guy (Hugh Grant as William Thacker) and an international movie star (Julia Roberts as Anna Scott) who happen to meet and fumble through attempting a relationship — with all the difficulties of managing fame and paparazzi and being in the public eye — but still feels totally relatable and authentic.
Hugh Grant is delightfully understated here, not a sexy cad but also not a stuttering, fidgety mess. He’s reserved, witty, self-deprecating, and still sort of hesitant and unsure of how to act around this amazing dream of a woman. Julia Roberts, meanwhile, is understated as well, tentative and on guard at times, daring or defensive in others. Ironically, it might be her most humanizing role ever because it feels like her most vulnerable and the most like maybe she really is. And the two of them together have a sweet, lovely, teasing and easy chemistry that bubbles like fresh champagne in all their scenes together.
It’s actually that bubbling chemistry that makes their rifts so painful and heart-wrenching. The scene when William is confronted with Anna’s wayward American boyfriend (Alec Baldwin) is awkward and uncomfortable, but so is the following set of scenes, as William’s friends try to set him all with all manner of other women in order to forget Anna, full of sorrow. And the engineered tracking shot of William walking through the Notting Hill Market, as seasons change and people’s lives evolve around him, while “Ain’t No Sunshine” plays over the soundtrack, is simply gorgeous. It’s bar none one of my favorite scenes of any film from any time. It so perfectly illustrates that feeling of a broken heart, of having to trudge through life while it still stubbornly happens all around you, and not being able to engage with any of it.
Another strong point of Notting Hill are William’s collection of friends. There’s Tim McInnerny as best friend (and horrid cook) Max, Gina McKee as other best friend and wheelchair-bound attorney Bella, Earl of Grantham Hugh Bonneville as obtuse Bernie, Emma Chambers as William’s baby sister Honey, and the amazing, perfect, incomparable Rhys Ifans as the illustrious flat-mate Spike. Max and Bella are William’s rocks, supportive and loving. Bernie, as hapless as he is, points out how nice it is when someone wants to go out with you. Honey is amazing, and her proclaiming to Anna that she’s always felt they could be best friends, is kind of exactly how I feel about at least a half-dozen celebrities of my own (call me, Kelly Ripa!). And Spike is a disaster and a hero, and since he’s the only one reasoned enough to point out what a “daft prick” William is for turning down Anna’s final offer, when she’s “just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her,” he kind of saves the entire day.
The final scene, where William admits his daft prick-ness to Anna in a room full of reporters, is sweet and perfect, and the following montage, as the movie comes to its close, as the two are wed, stepping out together on the red carpet, and reading peacefully on a bench as Anna strokes her baby bump, is easily one of the best endings to any romantic comedy ever, because it encompasses a true “happily ever after” sensibility. It warms my heart so much, and I simply can’t get enough of it. Honestly, I can’t figure out why more people aren’t crazy in love with this one.
Viable Option 