Notting Hill movie review- That's gotta be the worst business idea ever

 Love is real and it exists solely in Hugh Grant's hair. 

Director: Roger Michell

Writer: Richard Curtis

Cinematographer: Michael Coulter

Cast: Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, Gina McKee, Tim McInnerny, Rhys Ifans, Hugh Bonneville

Year: 1999

William Thacker (the brilliant Hugh Grant) is a London travel bookstore owner whose mundane existence is turned upside down into romantic turmoil when famous American actress Anna Scott (the amazing Julia Roberts) visits his bookshop. A chance encounter with spilt orange juice leads to a kiss that erupts into a love affair. As the average man falls head over heels for the glamorous movie star to become closer and closer, they struggle to fit each other into their drastically different lifestyles, all in the name of love.

 

I'm just a girl sitting in front of a computer screen, asking my brain to work so I can write this review. 

For some reason, Notting Hill has been playing on an eternal and endless loop in the back of my head. I don't know how many times I've watched it, but enough to remember some scenes off by heart. This is the ultimate movie for hopeless romantics, the Wattpad story even before Wattpad was invented, Hugh grant is just y/n, and all is good in the world. I just love how quintessentially British this film is (as I myself am quintessentially British, innit); here we are with our icon and all-round national treasure Hugh Grant, causing grown women to spontaneously combust with that charm of his whilst he stands front and centre in one of the best rom coms ever made. I have never loved love more than the love between Will and Anna. There's so much good and soooooo much bad, but what is a relationship without the drama, the cheating and the paparazzi, and Rhys Ifans parading around in just his underwear? Is it bad to yearn for something, for someone? After all, isn't William Thacker just a 90s simp? I mean, doesn't everyone simp for Julia Roberts? I mean, have you seen her?! Can I also just add that this film is the reason I have such high standards for men and the reason that I create elaborate scenarios up in my head before I sleep like? Why can't this be my life?!. I mean, why can't I own a bookshop in London and wait until a big hot Hollywood star wanders in? Hey god, it's me again... bookstore romance with 90s Hugh Grant when??

Notting Hill will always be a comfort film for me, I wish it lasted forever. It's one of those films you can watch on a dark and rainy day, huddled up in your duvet with a nice cup of tea. I've only ever experienced happiness during the 2 hours 4, minute runtime of this film. It's like a warm hug from an old friend, a reassuring hug that you may not die single and alone (although hugs can't really tell the future...) As autumn approaches, this will be humming in my DVD player for hours on end. What can I say? I'm a girl of culture! My favourite film subgenre is Hugh Grant rom-coms, especially the ones where he casually wears glasses. It seems as if beautiful skinny white men with posh British accents and floppy brown hair are my kryptonite!  My friend and I visited Notting Hill as a spur-of-the-moment decision whilst visiting London. It was wonderful just to be transported into parts of the film, walking down familiar yet unfamiliar streets holding a tote bag from the Notting Hill bookshop, which inspired the shop in the film. I have never felt so at home in a place before. If my love story doesn't start out in a bookshop, then there's no point! Interesting fact: Hugh Grant invented charm in 1999. Maybe, after all, I'm turning into a sappy sentimental; just inject this film into my veins already! Who's gonna invent the time machine so I can date 1999, Hugh Grant?! There are so many things I adore about this film, so many characters I'd love to just sit around a table and chat to, so many places I'd wanted to walk around a read and yearn for something (pizza, coffee maybe.) This is quite possibly the best rom-com to ever exist. And the press conference scene is just *chefs kiss*. Two faces in between a crowd, gazing at each other. Just them, nothing else. I'm dead. Deceased. Bury me under the blue door in Notting Hill. Spread my ashes in the ink of all of William's travel books. 

There's not much I can fault with this film; there's just so much warmth which projects itself from it. I wish I could eternally live in this version of Notting Hill, maybe own a bookstore and offer tea in times of crisis. It is impossible to say if this was a good film or if Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts are just incredibly attractive. But I know that this film will be playing on repeat until I find my own version of Hugh Grant, who can take me around his friends for dinner and sit with me for breakfast and mope around when I am gone. I'm just a girl lying in her bed, sobbing at seven in the evening. 

Rating: 4/5

Favourite quotes:

"I live in Notting Hill. You live in Beverly Hills. Everyone in the world knows who you are, my mother has trouble remembering my name." 

"After all, I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."

"James Bond never has to put up with this sort of shit."

"Can I stay for a while?"

"You can stay forever."