Hugh and the Famous Girl

William Thacker (Hugh Grant) leads a rather banal life in the Notting Hill (1999) area of London. He's divorced (his wife left him for a guy who looks like Harrison Ford), he owns a small house and rents out a room to a would-be artist named Spike (Rhys Ifans) and he runs a small travel-book shop in the neighborhood. But his life takes a dramatic turn when film star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) happens into his shop.

On a recent vacation, we had the opportunity to attend a screening of this wonderful romantic comedy. It's a film of which I'm particularly fond, so being able to see it on a big screen with an audience was a very pleasurable experience.  Notting Hill is an unusual rom-com because it does NOT focus on the woman. The film is about William Thacker, and it is his character with whom the audience identifies. So, it falls outside the realm of the chick flick by being centered on a man who is feeling the pangs of what seems to be unrequited love.

Hugh Grant has spent much of his career playing sweet, dithering men who seem totally flummoxed by women. He does so here as well, but it works to his advantage. William is a man who has been hurt by women - he wife left him, and he blames himself for being a disappointment. Anna intrigues him and he is greatly attracted to her, but he also is afraid that his "relatively inexperienced heart would I fear not recover" should their relationship fail. After all, he's barely been able to function romantically since his divorce, and the attraction to Anna is far stronger. Mr. Grant must play the ingenue in the film, yet not look weak doing so. He's able to create a character who is looking for love, and for whom the audience roots in return.

Julia Roberts has a harder role. Anna is constantly on the verge of breaking William's heart, but the audience has to understand that she is as vulnerable as he. When William takes her to the home of his friends Max (Tim McInnerny) and Bella (Gina McKee), Anna participates in a game of "whose life is more miserable" to get hold of the last brownie on the plate. Her response sums up her life:

I've been on a diet every day since I was nineteen, which basically means I've been hungry for a decade. I've had a series of not nice boyfriends, one of whom hit me. Ah, and every time I get my heart broken, the newspapers splash it about as though it's entertainment. And it's taken two rather painful operations to get me looking like this.

Anna has to find the inner strength to accept William's love, and the friendship of his friends. Ms. Roberts is able to make her sympathetic by showing her inner struggle, helping us to understand why she is so suspicious of everyone. She is especially moving when Anna and William climb into a private garden, and Anna expresses her yearning for a love that will last a lifetime.

 

The film is made more enjoyable by William's cadre of friends. Rhys Ifans makes Spike into a total goofball, who grows from the stupidest man in the world to someone who is actually endearing. William's sister, Emma Chambers as Honey (Ms. Chambers died earlier this year of a heart attack) is a delight as the woman who wants to be Anna's best friend, and who sees Anna as William's true love. Tim McInnerny and Gina McKee bring us a loving couple who perhaps have the most reason for self-pity, but whose love never allows it. And finally, Hugh Bonneville portrays Bernie, the reluctant stockbroker, who also is searching for love, and not finding it.

It's hard to remember that this film is almost 20 years old, because the story is as fresh today as it was when it was first released. It got decent reviews (Roger Ebert, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone all gave thumbs up). In my book, it's a film that warrants repeat viewings.  I'll leave you with a trailer from the film; if you've never seen it, do try and locate a copy!