Notting Hill (Collector's Edition)
by Roger Michell
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DVD details
Actor: Hugh Grant, James Dreyfus, Julia Roberts, Rhys Ifans, Richard McCabeDirector: Roger Michell
Brand: Universal Studios
Cinematographer: Michael Coulter
Producer: Duncan Kenworthy
Producer: Eric Fellner
Producer: Mary Richards
Producer: Richard Curtis
Writer: Richard Curtis
Producer: Tim Bevan
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 124 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-11-09
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Notting Hill (Collector's Edition)
DVD Review: "What is it about men & nudity?"
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of my favourite movies, it's just so great, and so funny at the same time. Everyone already knows the story, so I'm not going to go into that here. I love the friendships between the group of friends, and the actors who play them. Particularly Rhys Ifans was my favourite, with his strong, Welsh accent. It's such a sweet movie, with lots of romantic, teary moments, and it's also very memorable. Julia Roberts is an absolute gem in this, and Hugh Grant is his usual floppy haired self, even having a childhood nickname revealed of "Flopsie".
The whole Notting Hill scenes are excellent, and look like a fabulous little place to live, the way its portrayed. The house with the blue door where William lives is real; it once belonged to Notting Hill screenwriter Richard Curtis. The blue door was auctioned at Christie's Film and Entertainment sale in London. Soon after, graffiti appeared on a wall close by saying something along the lines of "R.I.P. blue door" next to the new door. The house with the blue door used in the movie was sold the year following the release of the movie; the new door was painted black so that no one would recognize it. Someone later spray painted on the wall next to the door, This is the Hollywood door. A different house was used when Thacker and Anna are practicing her lines on the roof.
During the birthday dinner scene, Anna Scott is asked how much she made on her last film, and her reply is $15 million. This is the amount she (Julia Roberts) was paid for her role in Notting Hill.
Despite Thacker's protestations, it seems that his store does NOT just sell travel books. On the shelf in the background (visible clearly in a later scene where he is receiving the gift from Anna), there is a copy of Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels by Roger Sabin. (It's a big orange hardcover.)
The book William reads as he sits on the park bench at the end of the movie is Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. It was to be director Roger Michell's next film after Notting Hill, but he became seriously ill and had to be replaced by John Madden.
Thacker's bookshop is actually an antiques shop in real life, next to a butcher. One or two doors down from the butchers is an office for Richard Curtis' production company. The real Travel Bookshop had a sign in its window saying We're almost famous. It would sell non-travel books when it fitted in with a theme. For example, selling Martin Amis' London Fields when doing a Notting Hill theme.
Look out for Omid Djalili in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him-role playing the Cashier at the Coffee Shop (although uncredited) - he was filming The Mummy at the same time at the same studios so was conscripted to fill in the part, very conveniently. (He serves Hugh Grant the orange juice that he soon spills on Julia Roberts.)
The rooftop scene in which William and Anna practice her lines for the submarine movie was shortened and edited to remove some swearing from Anna that would have precluded a PG 13 rating. The extended scene is on the DVD.
As he explains in the published screenpley, in Richard Curtis's original conception of the story, Honey was not William's sister but a worker in the record store across from his bookshop and Anna's romantic rival for his affections. The film would have ended with William choosing her over the fantasy that Anna represented. Curtis decided that he could not just dismiss Anna, however, and so he made Honey into William's sister. This shows up quite a bit in the movie, as Honey & William seem to have a very strange relationship for brother & sister, as there still seems to be some of the leftover, romantic rival, stuff left in the movie.
Some of my favourite moments, apart from the obvious romantic bits, is the obvious jokes. The film manages to put Julia Roberts own life as an actress under the microscope. While her "Anna Scott" character isn't an autobiographical figure, the Scott character allows for some biting satire at the life of Julia herself. The excellent one liners in the film like the sister of Hugh Grant: "I feel like we are sisters", an excellent throw-back to "My Best Friend's Wedding" or a discussion about nude body doubles just before a nude Julia Roberts (or a Julia Roberts body double) crosses the screen. Also the talk about women's anatomy while they're looking all romantic in bed together is hilarious, and easily my favourite film quote of the moment. "What is it about men & nudity, huh? Particularly breasts. How can you be so interested in them? Seriously, they're just breasts. Every second person in the world has them. But they're odd looking. They're for milk. Your mother has them. You've seen a thousand of them. What's all the fuss about?"
The extras are your usual faff - there's a commentary by director Roger Michell, producer Duncan Kenworthy and writer Richard Curtis; Hugh Grant's Movie Tips; The Travel Book; deleted scenes and a Universal showcase.
This is an excellent movie, although don't be surprised if the man in your life refuses to watch it, simply because it's portrayed as a rom-com.
Description of Notting Hill (Collector's Edition)
Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) is the world's most famous movie star. William Thacker (Hugh grant) owns a travel bookstore in the quaint neighborhood of Notting Hill. When their paths cross, the couple comes to face the ultimate question: can two people fall in love with the whole world watching?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 meet-cute 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 fulfillment 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
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 meet-cute 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 fulfillment 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
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