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Notting Hill (Collector's Edition) Customer Reviews (31 - 33 of 59 Reviews)

"What is it about men & nudity?"
This is one of my favourite movies, it's just so great, and so funny at the same time. Everyone already knows the story, so I'm not going to go into that here. I love the friendships between the group of friends, and the actors who play them. Particularly Rhys Ifans was my favourite, with his strong, Welsh accent. It's such a sweet movie, with lots of romantic, teary moments, and it's also very memorable. Julia Roberts is an absolute gem in this, and Hugh Grant is his usual floppy haired self, even having a childhood nickname revealed of "Flopsie".

The whole Notting Hill scenes are excellent, and look like a fabulous little place to live, the way its portrayed. The house with the blue door where William lives is real; it once belonged to Notting Hill screenwriter Richard Curtis. The blue door was auctioned at Christie's Film and Entertainment sale in London. Soon after, graffiti appeared on a wall close by saying something along the lines of "R.I.P. blue door" next to the new door. The house with the blue door used in the movie was sold the year following the release of the movie; the new door was painted black so that no one would recognize it. Someone later spray painted on the wall next to the door, This is the Hollywood door. A different house was used when Thacker and Anna are practicing her lines on the roof.

During the birthday dinner scene, Anna Scott is asked how much she made on her last film, and her reply is $15 million. This is the amount she (Julia Roberts) was paid for her role in Notting Hill.

Despite Thacker's protestations, it seems that his store does NOT just sell travel books. On the shelf in the background (visible clearly in a later scene where he is receiving the gift from Anna), there is a copy of Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels by Roger Sabin. (It's a big orange hardcover.)

The book William reads as he sits on the park bench at the end of the movie is Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. It was to be director Roger Michell's next film after Notting Hill, but he became seriously ill and had to be replaced by John Madden.

Thacker's bookshop is actually an antiques shop in real life, next to a butcher. One or two doors down from the butchers is an office for Richard Curtis' production company. The real Travel Bookshop had a sign in its window saying We're almost famous. It would sell non-travel books when it fitted in with a theme. For example, selling Martin Amis' London Fields when doing a Notting Hill theme.

Look out for Omid Djalili in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him-role playing the Cashier at the Coffee Shop (although uncredited) - he was filming The Mummy at the same time at the same studios so was conscripted to fill in the part, very conveniently. (He serves Hugh Grant the orange juice that he soon spills on Julia Roberts.)

The rooftop scene in which William and Anna practice her lines for the submarine movie was shortened and edited to remove some swearing from Anna that would have precluded a PG 13 rating. The extended scene is on the DVD.

As he explains in the published screenpley, in Richard Curtis's original conception of the story, Honey was not William's sister but a worker in the record store across from his bookshop and Anna's romantic rival for his affections. The film would have ended with William choosing her over the fantasy that Anna represented. Curtis decided that he could not just dismiss Anna, however, and so he made Honey into William's sister. This shows up quite a bit in the movie, as Honey & William seem to have a very strange relationship for brother & sister, as there still seems to be some of the leftover, romantic rival, stuff left in the movie.

Some of my favourite moments, apart from the obvious romantic bits, is the obvious jokes. The film manages to put Julia Roberts own life as an actress under the microscope. While her "Anna Scott" character isn't an autobiographical figure, the Scott character allows for some biting satire at the life of Julia herself. The excellent one liners in the film like the sister of Hugh Grant: "I feel like we are sisters", an excellent throw-back to "My Best Friend's Wedding" or a discussion about nude body doubles just before a nude Julia Roberts (or a Julia Roberts body double) crosses the screen. Also the talk about women's anatomy while they're looking all romantic in bed together is hilarious, and easily my favourite film quote of the moment. "What is it about men & nudity, huh? Particularly breasts. How can you be so interested in them? Seriously, they're just breasts. Every second person in the world has them. But they're odd looking. They're for milk. Your mother has them. You've seen a thousand of them. What's all the fuss about?"

The extras are your usual faff - there's a commentary by director Roger Michell, producer Duncan Kenworthy and writer Richard Curtis; Hugh Grant's Movie Tips; The Travel Book; deleted scenes and a Universal showcase.

This is an excellent movie, although don't be surprised if the man in your life refuses to watch it, simply because it's portrayed as a rom-com.

Amazing
I think all of the previous reviewers are crazy!!!!<br /> This film was amazing!<br /> If you like romantic comedies, you'll love it.<br /> An amazing love story that is hilarious. Also, I want to defend Julia Roberts. She is not just a "pretty face." She has done some amazing work and is a dedicated and hard working actor. Cut her some slack!!

Good, old-fashioned romance for modern times
Notting Hill is one of my favorite romantic comedies, right up there with Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seatle. I've read that some people call this film "preposterous" or "completely unbelievable". In fact, I thought this movie very believable, centered around one realistic, if highly improbable, "what if?" What if an ordinary fan courted and married a movie super-star?

Hugh Grant plays an ordinary guy who has a chance meeting with international film star Julia Roberts (there was some other name for Roberts' character, but for all purposes, she is playing herself). A simple hello and a spilt cup of OJ kick-starts Grants romance with this very mysterious person, sweeping him into the crazy movie-star-life of press junkets and gossip reporters. The perfect film-image of Roberts is shattered with the reality that she is a very closed, cautious person with a sharp tongue. And yet, as all perfect romance movies do, the hard shell is gradually peeled back to reveal a very loving person inside.

I found the earthly Grant too be much more charming and interesting than the cold, distant Roberts, and I could associate with his character as he loved a person on a movie screen soo much that his heart broken. This film is a great "date movie", as it gives a lot to women without turning of men (there are some great jokes in there, just for the guys).

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