Re-Watched "Notting Hill" Today...A Really Good Rom-Com

I listened to a podcast today from Malcolm Gladwell where he interviewed three country western songwriters. 

It was fascinating.

In the interview, one played a little song he wrote and I recognized it from the film, Notting Hill. The song, When You Say Nothing at All is a classic. I love that song--in fact, there's a lot of songs I like from that film. After listening to the podcast, I found and dusted off our DVD edition of the film and watched it.

I had forgotten just what a fantastic romantic comedy it is.

It's Christmastime which means, there will be a lot of Hallmark movies being watched on TV at our house. Other networks's Christmas movies (Lifetime, Up) are being watched, too. Now, these TV movies do not have the budget Notting Hill had, nor do they have the writers, cinematographers, directors. The TV movies are--for the most part--pretty good.

They can't hold a candle to Notting Hill. 

The talent is spectacular. The writing is crisp and wonderful. The situation is predictable, but the characters and even soundtrack add so much. It's a funny show as well (hence, the "romantic" portion of the rom-com...). And sure, there's one line in Julia Robert's plea near the movie's end that gets a lot of eye rolls, one bad line don't spoil the whole bunch of movie.

Notting Hill is a movie that's on cable all the time. It's a film I might stop and watch for even a few minutes when I'm channel surfing. It's just a really good rom-com.

"The Rewrite"...A Film Recommendation

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Yesterday we came across a film called The Rewrite. Perhaps you've heard of it.  We barely had. We decided to watch it.

And we LOVED it!

Hugh Grant is one of those actors we follow, or at least, have seen most of the films in which he's appeared for some time. If you've seen the same films, you've probably noticed a trend in the characters he portrays. Grant makes a very lovable has-been. He's also part of a stellar cast which includes Marisa Tomei, J.K. Simmons, Chris Elliot, and Allison Janney. 

In The Rewrite we find Grant once again having his best days in the past. This time Grant reached the pinnacle of his profession--an Oscar-winning screenwriter--who has fallen on hard times. So much so that he has taken a job teaching screenwriting in an upstate New York university. His poor decisions, when meeting new students and fellow faculty members, follows and the film's hero must overcome the small things while trying to overcome the large ones.

But what's best about The Rewrite is the writing! Terrific dialogue delivered by amazing (and Oscar-winning...) actors is a wonderful match, something that happens a lot in this film. Sure the plot is formulaic and it ends the way it's supposed to end, but we sure enjoyed the ride. I especially loved the archive film footage of Grant in a younger day. It was woven expertly into the story and made me remember the actor we all meet many years ago.

We found this on Starz--otherwise we wouldn't have known about it. If you get the chance to watch it, I hope you do. And if you do, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

* Photo used without permission from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2509850/