Notting Hill

Buffy
Jul 10, 2020
3 min read

Starring: Julie Roberts, Hugh Grant, Rhys Ifans, Emma Chambers, Hugh Bonneville

Year: 1999

I am so excited to write about this movie. Especially after having watched "Dolittle". I definitely needed a familiar favourite and I gotta say, this is probably my all-time familiar favourite. I just have no clue where to begin.

It's a Richard Curtis film, for starters. And it has everything you are looking for in a romantic-comedy. It's filmed right in idyllic Notting Hill. It has a great soundtrack. Actors (each and every one of them!) with great chemistry. And characters that you can't help but love.

Even though it's your typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl (twice), boy finds girl again and they live happily-ever-after story....it's not typical at all. There are so many layers to this film. So many beautiful layers. William (Grant), an easy-going travel bookshop owner, with a non-existent love life. Anna (Roberts), a beautiful mega movie star, with paparazzi following her every move. William lives in Notting Hill. Anna lives in Beverly Hills. They couldn't have more opposite lives.

And then there are the additional layers. Spike (Ifans), William's so-very-odd flatmate. Honey (Chambers), William's flighty but adorable little sister. And his group of misfit friends that feel like old comfortable sweaters on a cool autumn night.

This movie is about love, obviously. But not just romantic love. It's about the love between family, friends and even quirky flatmates that find their way in somehow. It's funny, touching and heart-warming. If you're looking for feel-good, look no further. This is it!

Favourite scenes? Oh I have a few!! But I will limit it to three. My most favourite would be Honey's birthday dinner party. The chemistry between the friends, their history, their shared jokes, their loyalty to one another, warms my heart every time. Add the brownie to the mix and you've got one memorable scene. My second favourite would have to be when William and Anna climb the fence (whoopsidaisies!) and find their way into a private garden (to the song "When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating). Songs really add to the scenes. My third fave would have to be at the end, when they arrive at some premiere (I'm guessing) for one of Anna's movies, To Elvis Costello's "She". Oh, sorry I lied. One more favourite. The scene with a bench. The inscription on the bench. "For June who loved this garden. From Joseph who always sat beside her". Softens the heart right??

Fun Facts: Richard Curtis (writer) once dated a woman who eventually married a Bernard. He now always includes a "Bernard" in his storylines. Bernard always being a horrible person. Watch out for reference to Bernard in this film! Hugh Grant's hardest scene was the sex scene with Julia. While Julia's contract stipulates she doesn't do any nude scenes, Hugh's does not. He ended up having to go nude for one of the scenes and wear a nude coloured thong to cover his bits. He was so nervous and self conscious that his privates might fall out, he actually wore five thongs all at once!! And a more personal fun fact: This is how I came up with the name for my blog. Even though William actually says "Whoopsidaisies", once I heard him say it, it just stuck with me.

Notting Hill makes me smile. It gives me pure happiness every time I watch it. It's a true-blue feel-good movie. Once you've watched it once, you will watch it again. Guaranteed!