Mischa Barton Movie:

				Salesrank: 273521
		Used Price: $30.96
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
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

Description of Notting Hill [Region 2]:
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

Notting Hill [Region 2] Reviews:
One of my favorites!
2009-12-04 - This is a sweet, feel-good movie ... Hugh Grant is just priceless, Julie Roberts does well with her role as "almost herself" and Rhys Ifans pretty much stole a good part of the movie, along with Hugh's character's many eccentric family members and friends. Laugh out loud and sigh with relief ... you'll love it!

Not Happy
2009-11-30 - Rec'd movie within a timely basis but rec'd a HDDVD. Wrote Movietronix but was told it was my fault that I should read better. What ever happened to the customer is always right?!?!? Especially if the DVD was only a few bucks they could of had a customer for life but they lost this one. I won't ever buy from them again. I bought a regular DVD from Wal-Mart instead for $7.

Chick Flick
2009-11-16 - My wife made me watch it, but guys, it is actually a good movie with a lot of funny scenes

Nothing Hill, more like!
2009-10-03 - One star for scruffy and slightly drunk Dylan Moran, who plays Rufus the thief. Everybody else in this film (including the film) is useless and hopeless (or, as an average American would say, "sux hard and loud").

Solid romantic effort
2009-09-12 - The Bottom Line:

At 124 minutes Notting Hill clocks in a little long and some of the attempts at broad humor (particularly the roommate character played by Rhys Ifans) fall flat, but Notting Hill is by and large an enjoyable romantic comedy from Richard Curtis with Hugh Grant at his Hugh Grantiest and Julia Roberts presenting a pleasant and attractive foil; it's probably weaker than Love Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral but it's enjoyable enough.

3/4