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Notting Hill
Universal Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content and brief strong language
Starring
Julia Roberts,
Hugh Grant,
Rhys Ifans,
Tim McInnery,
Gina Mckee,
Hugh Bonneville,
and
Emma Chambers
Anna Scott (Roberts) is the world's most famous movie star. William Thacker (Grant) owns a travel bookstore. When Anna and William's paths unexpectedly cross in the eclectic neighborhood of Notting Hill, romance is the last thing on their minds. This charming romantic comedy proves that love can spring from even the most unlikely of circumstances. (Universal Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Richard Curtis
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Roger Michell
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 9, 1999
Video: November 9, 1999
Theatrical: May 28, 1999
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
124 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
UK / USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
The overall result is a romantic comedy that indulges fantasies, calms insecurities (can an ordinary bloke stack up?), and breaks and mends hearts with surgical precision.
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
It comes as a bonus that this romantic comedy is one of the rare pictures of its type that actually is about something -- the double-edged sword of celebrity.
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
It's pure fluff, but as irresistible as cotton candy.
91
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
A pure, sweet romance that moves along with bouncy comedy and a touch of grown-up realism and rue.
91
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Blithe and exhilarating romantic comedy.
90
Film.com
Norman Green
It's irresistible.
88
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
Its deadpan wit, ingenious fairy-tale premise and superbly accomplished cast will leave you feeling positively oxygenated.
88
Chicago Tribune
Marc Caro
It's funny, sympathetic, mostly smart, and it boasts a likable cast of characters led by two performers who have star power and know how to use it.
82
Mr. Showbiz
Eleonore Snow
A smart, sometimes pissingly funny romantic comedy that is also oddly unmoving and predictable in spots.
80
Slate
David Edelstein
A brainy weave of satire and fantasy.
80
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
So the film has this weird postmodernist taint: It has a self-aware script that cleverly plays off the reality of its own cast and their famous real-life contretemps. It's smart and knowing.
80
Variety
Derek Elley
Has buckets to spare of that rarest screen commodity — genuine, engaging charm.
80
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
In the end, the movie works because Grant and Roberts are disarming geniuses at playing themselves -- and then some.
75
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
The deft, hilarious Notting Hill finds Grant's dour-droll-deprecating affliction at its most dead-on.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The movie is bright, the dialogue has wit and intelligence, and Roberts and Grant are very easy to like. By the end, as much as we're aware of the ancient story machinery groaning away below deck, we're smiling.
75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
There's some very funny dialogue, but the picture falls apart when it tries to think real thoughts about celebrity, publicity, and the media.
75
New York Post
Rod Dreher
The frothy, feel-good Notting Hill is about as enchanting as movies get these days.
70
Newsweek
Jeff Giles
Adorable, if uneven, romantic comedy.
70
Film.com
Robert Horton
A piece of fluff that can be enjoyed without guilt.
70
TNT RoughCut
Jennifer Nowitzky
If you're looking for Julia Roberts (circa "Pretty Woman") playing, well, herself, and Hugh Grant (circa "Four Weddings and A Funeral") playing, well, himself, then you're in luck.
70
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
The movie has lots of glossy charm even if Ms. Roberts and Grant seem less like lovers than members of a support group for the desperately attractive.
70
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
A smartly cast and consistently amusing romantic comedy.
70
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
At once a light comedy and a reasonably serious meditation on the perils of fame.
70
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Roberts fans will, of course, be delighted to see her in a role that plays to all her strengths -- fresh-faced looks, charming gangliness, air of infinite approachability -- and neatly sidesteps her glaring inability to act by having her more or less play herself.
70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
It may boil down to little more than a minor variation on Four Weddings' formula, but it's an interesting and entertaining one.
63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Notting Hill does an adequate job, but this isn't one of those landmark romantic comedies that dozens of subsequent movies will seek to emulate.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
In the slow coast down Notting Hill, we approach the blessed land of Nodding Off.
50
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
The result is two films: a big, dreary star vehicle that sags whenever its leads spend quality time together, and a mettlesome British caper whose nutsosecondary characters walk away with the movie.
50
Austin Chronicle
Hollis Chacona
Funny, bright, sly, and unabashedly romantic, Notting Hill combines fluffy, fairy-tale fantasy with big laughs, snappy dialogue, and small moments of pain and unease to create a surprisingly satisfying two hours.
50
Film.com
Ernest Hardy
It has to be noted that the use of music in this film is the worse in recent memory: maudlin, syrupy, and overwrought.
30
Village Voice
Dennis Lim
It is not, the filmmakers stress, a sequel to "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (which writer Richard Curtis was also responsible for), but it fits the latter-day Hollywood definition of the term -- same movie, only worse.
30
Dallas Observer
Scott Kelton Jones
Notting Hill offers another example of moviemakers consoling themselves about how tough it is to be famous while congratulating themselves on how down-to-earth they really are.
30
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
It's an English movie doing its best to masquerade as the shallowest kind of Hollywood romantic comedy, as if somewhere along the way someone had made a calculated supposition that would be the only kind of comedy American audiences would buy.
 The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 29 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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