Notting Hill: Collector`s Edition (US)

A cute little romantic comedy, yet not as great as most people say it is.
Both Roberts and Grant deliver a solid performance, but the plot is too sweet for my liking.
The video transfer is very good. There are no compressions signs at all and the colors are well balanced.
The DD 5.1 soundtrack is a bit flat. While the movie includes several very nice songs, the surrounds are hardly ever used. The dialog is always centered and very clear.
The menus are mostly animated.
The extras include a commentary, a nice behind the scenes look (by Hugh Grant), some deleted scenes, pointers to the songs in the movie and an interactive map of the Notting Hill area.
Bottom line - one of the ultimate "chick movies" - romantic and sweet with some lovable characters.

The movie is very witty quite romantic too and can be watched and watched all over again several times without losing it`s grip.julia is more beautiful than ever and she has a stunnig revenge scene!i love revenge!!

Introduction
I thought Four Weddings and a Funeral was great. Its a film that worth digging out once in a while and rewatching.
Notting Hill - when I first heard about this I hoped it wasn`t a sequel, but something a little different. Well it is - great!

The Plot
A small time travel book shop owner (Hugh Grant) who lives in Notting Hill literally bumps into one of the most female famous movie stars in the world (Julia Roberts). Can anything really develop from this?
They move in such different worlds - Hugh`s character scrapes together the shop rental each month, and is reduced to buying half cups of coffee.
Julia`s character can`t go anywhere without press speculation, minders and an entourage.
Quote:
I live in Notting Hill; you live in Beverly Hills. Everyone in the world knows who you are; my mother has troubles remembering my name.

Its a fairly unlikely story, but it just could happen, couldn`t it? I guess we`d all like to think so on some level.

There are some cringingly funny scenes where the humour is relentless.
Some more touching scenes where the characters analyze the situation, and Hugh`s flatmate Spike is completely off the wall!

Hughs group of friends is really put together well, a collection of well know UK sitcom characters, who work well together.

The plot is probably formulaic when considered in the abstract.
Boy meets girl, they get separated, they get together, events split them apart.
However it is very well done, and has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.

The Cast
I think Hugh is ideally cast in the role here. Somehow I can just relate to his character and his tribulations and uncertainties. He has just the ability to play the put upon underdog in the British way.

Julia Roberts plays a good part. To my mind she probably looks as good as I`ve seen her on screen in this film.
Rhys Ifans as the flat mate from hell gives a great performance. Just the right sort of wachy irritating person and some of the scenes were ad-lib`d according to the commentary.

Tim Mcinnery - of black adder fame plays another good role here. A small part but nicely done.
Gina McKee, Emma Chambers, Hugh Bonneville all conspier nicely to form a circle of friends any of us could relate to.

I didn`t spot until now that Sanjeev Bhaskar also has a small part to play. As does Simon Callow.

The Visuals/Audio
The visuals are good - unfortunately it doesn`t play too well with my DVD player. It has a firmware bug which some discs trigger into subtitle mode (especially this one) at the layer change, and once triggered, it tends to go into stutter mode. This is a real shame, I wish it happened on a few more disks then it would annoy me enough to buy a new player.
Anyway - apart from that - and it probably affects hardly anyone else these days, the visuals are very good.

The sound track is also well done. Some good music chosen as backing.
A 5.1 but its mostly dialogue, the music comes over nicely though.

The Extras
A few bits and pieces present, but the good thing is the commentary. Quite fascinating listening
to all the details here about choice of actors, and how the script evolved over time.
I`m glad they took some of the decisions they did, some of the early ideas would just not have worked I think. Also little gems like "We`re not making this up, there really are Fruitarians...".

The deleted scenes are interesting, a whole subplot is nearly completely cut out - about the resteraunt owner who now only appears briefly, and an alternate ending. Call me soppy, but I prefer the ending they went with.
The deleted "Fergie" scene is pretty funny.

Hugh Grants movie-making tips are a nice diversion - his parents visiting him on set amongst other things.

Summary
A really nice film. Plenty to laugh at and plenty to empathise with. Great for the end of a long day.
A better version than the R2.