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Notting Hill (Ultimate Edition)

Notting Hill (Ultimate Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Shocked
Review: I cringed when my girlfriend plucked this DVD from the shelves. While the thought of Julia Roberts was somewhat intriging, I did not want to find myself listening to Hugh Grant for two hours. By the end of the movie I wanted more.

This is really a great movie, quite unlike anything else that has been released on a long time. Roberts and Grant are a wonderfully romantic duo on screen. Every detail of this movie was perfect. The neighborhood, the friends (especially the roommate), the bookshop, and of course, Julia. During the middle of the movie she smiles at Grant and it is a look that any and every man wants to receive from a woman.

The music is also a surprise. It is rare that almost every song in the movie is one that you remember from some trivial point in your own life.

I bought this shortly after viewing it for the first time. It is a film you can over and over and really never tire of.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Nodding Off...
Review: I'm a guy that loves a good chick movie, and enjoys a good romantic comedy of even average quality, but this is neither. The unbelievable thing about this romance is not that a famous star would fall in love with a middle class bookstore owner, but that it should be with the most incredibly boring bookstore owner she could possibly have found. Hugh Grant's bumbling shtick was already getting old, but in this role he seems to degenerate into self-parody. I couldn't stand spending an hour and a half with him. Surely she could do better for a life partner. I wonder if this movie appeals to other really boring people's fantasies--no offense intended. I thought movies were supposed to be populated with interesting characters. Or is that just me?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My favorite Julia's movie
Review: Notting Hill is so far my favorite Julia Roberts' movie. She played closer to home as Anna Scott, the Hollywood Superstar. Hugh Grant was great as a small bookstore owner, William Thacker -- complete with his stutter :P.

The idea of the story was sweet too ... a popular moviestar and a nobody-knows guy from Notting Hill falling in love and tried to work on the relationship. Not to mention the performance from Rhys Jones, who played as Hugh Grant's roommate was splendid. He stole the screen whenever he appeared. And the soundtracks were extraordinary too.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Notting Hill
Review: I went into this movie with high hopes. At the end I felt a little let down, but overall this film wasn't bad. The film stars Julia Roberts as Anna Scott, and Hugh Grant as William Thacker. William owns a travel bookstore in a town called Notting Hill. One day, Anna Scott the most popular movie star in the world stumbles in and buys a book. A few minutes later, William accidently spills orange juice all over Anna's shirt. She goes to his flat, and there is where the romance starts. But, when Anna's actor boyfriend (Alec Baldwin) stumbles into town, things get complicated. Then, Anna comes to William's flat because nude pictures of her were discovered by the press. To make things worse, the press finds out that Anna & William are involved. The next day, the whole world knows.

I found this film a little drug out. But what kept me through the film, and why this film got a 4 star rating was because of a wonderful performance by Julia Roberts. If you are a Julia Roberts, or a Hugh Grant fan, you must see this!

Overall Grade: B+

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just Plain Fun
Review: So what's wrong with loving this "chick flick" (or any chick flick for that matter)? Very little bad language, no violence, no one gets hurt (except those who deserve it), and the guy gets the girl! A couple of hours of delightful, sometimes hilarious entertainment, and well worth the price of admission or price of the tape. I bought it to add to my collection of rainy-day tapes, and there really aren't many movies I'll consider buying to have on hand rather than just renting from Blockbuster.

Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, the owner of a travel bookstore in the Notting Hill section of London. Julia Roberts plays Anna Scott, world-famous actress. Their improbable meeting when he bumped into her on Portobello Road and spilled orange juice all over her shirt is just the first of the amusing, though contrived antics that are sprinkled throughout the movie.

The character actors are nothing short of hysterical. William's incredibly offensive, but harmless roommate Spike (Rhys Ifans) is the most memorable. But there are others, including William's sister and hapless friends, and the brief cameo role of Anna's American boyfriend played by Alec Baldwin.

The soundtrack, peppered with popular songs including Elvis Costello's "She", also adds to the charm of this movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hugh Grant Takes A Walk On The Bookstore Wall
Review: The owner (Grant) of a small travel book store in the Notting Hill district of London, England sees his life change when the most popular actress in the world (Julia Roberts) walks into his bookstore, and since this is a romantic comedy... into his heart. I's not an unbumpy ride, however, as these two people from completely different walks-of-life try to sort out what it is they can be to each other.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Pitiful. The British film industry has no hope.
Review: Notting Hill is simply a bad re-run of Four Weddings. Look at the comparisons and realise what a boring waste of time it really is:

1) Bumbling but charming (if you say so) Englishman falls for beautiful American, who seems out of his reach. 2) His circle of friends, including customary disabled sibling (deaf brother in 4 Weddings, wheelchair bound sister in this) hope it all works out, but think shes out of his league. 3) After run ins with her boyfriend, the Englishman triumphs in winning her affections, but not before they have a fight about the fate of their relationship, setting up the oh-so rewarding ' They commit to each other in a cliched finale' scene.

Hugh Grant can only play one character, and how anyone can bare his bumbling, stammering routine for more than a minute is beyond me. He is infuriating and awful. How can the owner of a modest book shop afford to live on absolutely premium London real-estate? Wait a minute - these are the poetic licences of romantic comedies. But thats the point - the strength of the characters and dialogue should cover up such trivialities... but this hole is left wide open. One of the major divides between them is money, and its not believable, given Grant's living arrangements.

Which brings me onto Spike. He is perhaps the 'worst' comic-relief character ever created... come on, walking around in his underwear! Funny? I thought this was supposed to be high brow-humour?

She throws a tantrum at the end because she wanted her realtionship with him to be away from the cameras and press, and then he proceeds to propose to her at a press news conference?!?!? And she accepts? But wait.... I thought....

Garbage.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SURREAL, BUT NICE
Review: Love is ... William and Anna on June's bench at the park.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: THE CHARMS OF JULIA AND HUGH
Review: If you don't expect a smash, then you'll enjoy NOTHING HILL(if you care, MADONNA lives there)but i still think it could have been better, and i liked FOUR WEDDINGS more.The charms of JULIA and HUGH makes up for the shortcomings of the script, that is never really beleivable.It's like going to a restaurant ,and after you've eaten the entree, you wait forever for the principal meal that never comes.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Star is Confirmed
Review: Notting Hill was undoubtedly expensive to make, yet it is not an ambitious film. It is a simple love story with a twist or two ... or three or four. Which is to say that the film takes romance to the edge of credibility. Decide for yourself whether a famous movie star, making "15 million" per picture (Anna Scott, played by Julia Roberts), is likely to fall in love with an ordinary, ho-hum (gulp!), borderline poverty bloke like William Thacker (played by Hugh Grant)!

OK, so Notting Hill is not very realistic. But maybe that's not what's important here. One important thing is the production which -- as one would expect of a film starring Julia Roberts, the most important actress in Hollywood -- is absolutely first-rate. The scenes involving the ultra-famous Anna's visit's with the humble Thacker's family and friends (who are even more humble than "Will," and are occasionally positively bizarre) are so wonderfully done as to be worth the price of admission. There is a sloppy, sentimental ending that's over the top. But even that fails to irritate, given the stellar presence of Roberts.

I'm not a big Julia Roberts fan. Until now, I had assumed she topped out with the ancient Mystic Pizza, when she was hardly more than a tot. But in this film, and especially with Grant (isn't it a shame he's so darn handsome?!), Miss Roberts will convince even some cynics that she is stunning, hugely talented, and quite unforgettable.


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