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Notting Hill (1999)
Rom-com chemistry doesn’t just happen.
Granted, it helps to cast leads at the perfect points in their careers, and Notting Hill unquestionably struck that hot iron with Julia Roberts taking a victory lap around her ’90s rom-com supremacy and Hugh Grant reaching peak charm right before he broke cad. But when you watch Notting Hill now 26 years after its release, what’s distinct from the subgenre’s 21st-century downturn is how the film’s patient editing and lived-in directing sell writer Richard Curtis’ fantastical premise—that a Hollywood idol (Roberts) would fall for a stammering bookshop owner (Grant). Across the endless, sun-dappled London morning of their meet-cute, Roberts gets all the room to gradually slough off the hypercontrolled watchfulness a globally famous person might adopt if she encountered a motormouthed, self-effacing Englishman sporting the decade’s best middle part.
Notting Hill screens Sunday, Aug. 17, as part of the Tomorrow Theater’s Summer of ’99 series. The screening doubles as a “Bring Your Own Craft” event, supported by Ritual Dyes.
Also Playing:
5th Avenue: Le Pont du Nord (1981), Aug. 15–17. Academy: Jumanji (1995), Aug. 14. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Aug. 14. Friday the 13th (1980), Aug. 14. Men in Black (1997), Aug. 15–21. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Aug. 15–21. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), Aug. 150–21. Cinema 21: Inside Man (2006), Aug. 15 and 16. The French Connection (1971), Aug. 16. Clinton: Mandy (2018), Aug. 15. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Aug. 16. Woman in the Dunes (1964), Aug. 18. The Crazy Family (1984), Aug. 19. Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War (1971), Aug. 20. Cult Classics: The Running Man (1987), Aug. 17. Hollywood: The Road Warrior (1981), Aug. 13 and 14. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Aug. 15 and 16. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), Aug. 16 and 17. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Aug. 17 and 20. Cyber City Oedo (1990), Aug. 17. Moby Dick (1956), Aug. 18. Tomorrow: Being John Malkovich (1999), Aug. 17.
