Notting Hill

Hey hey hey, here comes joy and merriment! Time for dancing in the streets! Hugh Grant stars in a rewrite of Four Weddings And A Funeral!!! Julia Roberts too! Yippeeee!!!.

Well, okay, in all honesty, I can't say I looked forward to Notting Hill with massive enthusiasm, but copious millions of moviegoers will love it to bits, and not entirely without reason. A shamelessly contrived crowd-pleaser, the film relies on all the factors that made Four Weddings such a gigantic winner: bucketloads of gentle comedy, Hugh Grant's geeky nice-guy charm, huge dollops of soppy romance, and a super-polished script that manages to be highly entertaining and deeply irritating in equal measure. Throw in Julia Roberts' puppy-eyed allure, and you have a surefire recipe for box-office success.

The film has already done phenomenal business in the States, where Grant's twee twittishness is somehow seen as exotic, and will doubtless run and run for months. The plot pitches Hugh in his trademark mode, as a good-natured, impeccably-mannered upper-middle-class ponce who falls hopelessly in love with a visiting American moviestar - none other than Julia Roberts, apparently playing herself. The pair's sense of comic timing is immaculate and the vast majority of the gags are irresistible to anyone with half a sense of humour.

Rhys Ifans (Twin Town) puts in a cheek-stingingly hilarious performance as Hugh's profoundly slobbish Welsh housemate (think of a much funnier Rab C. Nesbitt with less dress sense) while the script keeps up a cheerful, witty and good-humoured tone throughout. As manipulative and predictable as Notting Hill undoubtedly is, you would have to be a complete sourpuss not to enjoy it. You may well feel slightly cheated afterwards, but the two hours will fly by very pleasantly.

Towards the closing stages, the film can't resist the temptation to overstay its welcome, launching into full-blown Hollywood-hell epic romance mode, to the accompaniment of an appropriately putrid Ronan Keating-dominated soundtrack.

The happy ending is almost dispiriting in its unlikely convenience, and the self-satisfied snobbishness of the film's social milieu never completely escapes from sight - but as smash-hit romantic comedies go, Notting Hill really isn't bad at all. Honestly.