Notting Hill (1999)

Last night my wife wanted to watch a movie with me and chose Notting Hill, a film neither of us had seen. Notting Hill was released the week we graduated from high school, and would have been a perfect date movie for us to go see. After all it had only been 11 days since I asked Lisa to be my girlfriend. Unfortunately, I never had the sense to take her. While I had heard good things about the movie, a romantic comedy is not something a guy just watches on his own normally. Thanks to my wonderful bride, I was able to enjoy this movie while retaining my man card.

Notting Hill went on to be nominated for three Golden Globe awards. One for best picture, and one each for best actor/actress in a comedy/musical for Hugh Grant and the beautiful and talented Julia Roberts.

The film is your typical romantic comedy plot line. Poor boy gets the girl, looses the girl, gets her back. Along the way both have transformations of character and come out of the crisis even more in love, and better for the experience.

With that said, this movie is extremely funny. My wife and I were laughing throughout much of the movie. Roberts and Grant had great chemistry, and worked well together. The movie had some great dialog and banter. The cinematography was typical for a film filmed mostly indoors on sets that are supposed to be inside. There was one time morph sequence that was exceptionally well done, cute, and effective.

All in all my wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The next time your girl wants to curl up on the couch and watch something romantic, pull up Notting Hill on Netflix, etc. You will enjoy the comedy, she will enjoy the romance. It is a win-win for you. I give the film 8/10.