Description
 | "Price: ","$9.49"
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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #3045 in Movie
Released on: 2008-09-11
Running time: 125 minutes
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
100 of 105 people found the following review helpful.
Pleasantly, not what I'd expected!
By E. D. Garcia
Let me just say that I'm not particularly a Julia Roberts fan. So when my wife asked to go see Notting Hill in the theater, I politely declined... but I figured that I'd give her a suprise and buy the DVD for her. Well, I sat and watched it with her, and was pleasantly suprised, myself!Set in the real-life Notting Hill section of London, this VERY fairy-tale story is filled with moments of true belly-aching laughter, painful heartbreak, and one delightful "car chase."Julia Roberts portrays Anna Scott, a fifteen-million-dollar per picture movie actress who gets tangled in the trappings of love with William Thacker, a bumbling, but likeable book-shop owner convincingly played by Hugh Grant. Notting Hill wastes no time in setting up this premise and rockets off from there. The film moves along at a good pace and only has one noticible slow spot. The music chosen to accompany the film is beyond perfect. Watch the screen closely when you hear "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers. I would be remiss if I did not mention "Spike". Rhys Ifans plays Spike, William's very odd, very Welsh flat mate. You can't help but laugh every time he's on the screen. Luckily, the director and editor didn't over-do Spike's antics, so we can truly enjoy the moments when he's on.The Collector's Edition goodies make the DVD a true gem and a great bargain. The musical highlights let you quickly jump into the middle of the movie to enjoy a song while watching the movie roll. (After you've watched the movie, go find "Ain't No Sunshine"!) The deleted scenes give a glimpse of what could have happened in the film. After watching, I'd say that I agree with the director's choice of endings.This movie proves that romantic comedies can still be done well... and you don't have to have Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan to do it.
47 of 53 people found the following review helpful.
About a girl, asking a boy to love her.
By Daniel J. Hamlow
Hugh Grant's role as Travel Book Shop employee William Thacker reprises the same shy, humble, lovable, but lonely character with a small group of friends that made him a star in Four Weddings And A Funeral. That may be because Notting Hill, like FW&AF, was written by Richard Curtis. "And so it was another hopeless Wednesday when I walked a thousand yards to work, not suspecting that this was going to be the day my life would be changed forever." In two words, that catalyst is Anna Scott, currently one of Hollywood's biggest stars, who is promoting her latest film Helix, a sci-fi film whose costume design and one interior setting owes a nod to Kubrick's 2001. She happens in his bookshop, but that first meeting sets off a series of meetings where they spend time with each other.Eccentric barely describes Spike, his Welsh roommate with a shock of wild blond hair. Never have I seen a more comical opposites since Felix and Oscar of the Odd Couple. Spike is clearly the Oscar of the pair, but then again, I doubt if Oscar would have worn a T-shirt saying, "Get It Here", with an arrow pointing downwards, or unwittingly mistake mayonnaise for yogurt.In the course of meeting Anna, he in turn introduces her to his small group, including a married couple, Max and Belle, the latter in a wheelchair, a stockbroker named Bernie, and William's wild-looking sister Honey, whose bulging eyes and feathery hair makes her nevertheless lovable in a different sort of way.However, they live in two different worlds. As William puts it, "I live in Notting Hill, you live in Beverly Hills." Both have different schedules, lifestyles, and perspectives on things. Yet his inner smile lights up whenever she pops in and spends some time with him. And applying a metaphor used, Anna is a goddess. "You know what happens to mortals who get involved with the gods?" That's terrible for William, who confides in Spike that it's like "taking love heroin and I couldn't have it again. I've opened Pandora's Box and there's trouble inside."Anna is a typical box-office draw who has to put up with the tail side of the fame coin. The many boyfriends, the laying out of her private life in the tabloids, but also how she's unable to live an ordinary life and how she has to put up with unkind words, as when she overhears a group of businessmen saying how actresses are equal to prostitutes and that she is the definitive actress. Ouch! But despite the fame, in the end, she's "just a girl asking a boy to love her."The one pullback aerial shot that has the couple approaching the bench dedicated to a loved one, while Ronan Keating sings Keith Whitley's "When You Say Nothing At All" was a perfect combination of great camera work enhanced by a haunting love song.Hugh Grant has another winning role and seems to have the knack of starring opposite great female leads and being compatible. Be it Andie McDowell (Four Weddings) or Emma Thompson (Sense And Sensibility), he does himself and Julia Roberts great credit. After seeing this at the theatre when it first came out, I sighed with relief that I finally found the most charming movie with Julia Roberts since Pretty Woman. All the actors portraying Williams' small circle also lend great support, but Rhys Ifan steals the show as the outlandish Spike. Those who liked Four Weddings will definitely go for Notting Hill, which has a tad more sweetness, like apricot and honey.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
Charming,lite romantic comedy
By A Customer
I was hesitant to see this film at the theater.I enjoy Hugh Grant but never cared much for Julia Roberts.Well,being a DVD and home theater nut,I decided to check this out..PLEASENTLY SURPRISED! ..First Hugh Grant is just fantastic.In a way,his character can be discribed as the thinking mans Mathew Perry.Actually,their humor derives from similar delivery of lines..This is a delightful tale of the ever so polite,but aloof, British male,winning over the, seen to many shallow male actor movie star..Julia pretty much plays herself,with both touching honesty and charm..Tired of the world that incorporates her hollywood life,on a trip to England she finds herself drawn to Grants simple yet honest and gentle sincerity...Along the way,the typical trials and tribulations that would surely plague such a relationship appear..Yet,this movie demonstrates that regardless of our superficial world around us,something as age-old as love can lead to true inner happiness...A great British supporting cast make up this movie,and the scence stealing Spike is hilarious...Guys,this is not just a chick flick! Give it a shot with that special someone and you both will be the better off for it..!
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