By William Wolf

NOTTING HILL  Send This Review to a Friend

So much is clever and funny in "Notting Hill" that it’s a pity the filmmakers had to partially spoil it with excess. Still, with beautiful Julia Roberts and handsome Hugh Grant playing the unlikely lovers, the film has definite audience appeal, broadened by some sharp lines and amusing situations.

Anna Scott (Roberts) is a movie superstar at the level of--well, Julia Roberts. One day she wanders into a travel book store in London's Notting Hill neighborhood and she's fascinated by the owner William Thacker (Grant), who's fascinated by her. He's too mild mannered and unassuming to take any initiative. She seduces him. What follows is the ons and offs and ups and downs of a relationship with everything against it, including the likelihood that it can be kept secret for very long.

The entertainment lies in the banter and the film's satirical observations on fame and the ritual of press interviews with stars. Screenwriter Richard Curtis and director Roger Michell are smack on target with their spoofing. A major plus is the Rhys Ifans as Spike, Thacker's sloppy, cheerful and raunchy flat mate, who steals scene after scene by getting in the way. He also blabs about the secret relationship, thereby bringing hoards of reporters and photographers to the doorstep.

"Notting Hill" is best when concentrating on comedy, even when the romance is building. It weakens when it puts too much emphasis on the love story and the effort to make Anna seem folksy, fitting in with Thacker's oddball sister and his friends and indulging in lines like "I'm just a girl standing before a boy and asking him to love me." In the bargain, there's a hectic, forced chase to the airport. Grant's humble act also starts to look overdone.

But at least this is about people, without a Jar Jar Binks in sight, and since the stars are so appealing, it's easy to have an enjoyable time if you can tolerate the tendency of mass market movies to go overboard. A Universal Pictures release.

  

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