Notting Hill (1999)

It was a pleasant, simple and mostly implausible romantic comedy about a famous fictional actress and the man that loves her. A romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts is not normally my sort of thing but sometimes, a good girlie film such as "Notting Hill" can be just what the doctor ordered.

"Notting Hill" is one of those movies for people who appreciate the particular British sense of humor. British humor is a full plate, let's face it. This movie, when it comes to humor, romance and simplicity, is at the same  level  of  "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Bridget Jones Diary", which makes it a good alternative to these movies. Although it contains some vocabulary of discussable taste, it isn't profane at all and doesn't contain dirty humor which makes this a much more intelligent movie.

The characters here are interesting and humorous, without being great (in fact they deliver an ordinary performance especially Julia Roberts). The supporting characters, on the other hand, have more depth than I expected. Unfortunately, it's not their story. Nevertheless, the actor who portrays Spike is who makes this movie so hilarious. Spike is so goofy, so silly and so humorous - congratulations to the actor (Rhys Ifans) who played him, 'cause he did a perfect job for this kind of role.

I really didn't like the overuse of pop music in the film, especially the overblown music used to bookend the film. It felt a little tacked on or inorganic to the soul of the film and almost seems to try to "sell" the scene as emotionally related to the piece of selected music.

In terms of romantic comedy, this film basically gets the touchstones right. There are quirky, but fleshed out supporting characters. Silly scenarios are quite good. It's cute enough to be smile-making funny, albeit nothing laugh-out-loud.  It's likable.

My Rating - 7/10