When Anna first walks into the bookshop, William nimbly chats her up even as he admonishes a shoplifter who’s put a book down his pants. What follows is, for the first hour anyway, a hilarious, deadpan variation on the theme of worlds colliding. William introduces elegant Anna to his roommate, Spike (Rhys Ifans), a disgusting Welshman who obliviously spoons down a cup of mayonnaise (“There’s something wrong with this yogurt”). Later William sneaks into a press junket for Anna’s new sci-fi movie by pretending to be a journalist from, of all places, Horse and Hound magazine. William is entranced by Anna’s world–and mortified by his own. Soon we discover–and this is where the movie stalls out–that Anna’s really the one with the problems.
Grant gives a great, unaffected performance–he piles on the charm and goes easy on the stuttering and eyelid fluttering. Roberts has some sparkling moments, but becomes increasingly less lovable as we get to know her character better. When old porn pictures of Anna turn up in the tabloids, she gets hounded by the paparazzi, turns nasty and rants at William about the price of fame. Frankly, Roberts is so convincingly uppity that you wouldn’t wish her on anybody. This being a fairy tale, however, the movie lurches toward a happy ending you’re only half rooting for. Grant and a sublime supporting cast still manage to carry the day. “Can’t we just laugh about this?,” William implores, as the photographers swarm. It takes Anna forever to get a sense of humor. Us? We’re laughing all along.
Notting HillUniversal
