BEFORE: And sometimes, it is just as easy as letting Julia Roberts carry over from one romance film to the next. But this will also kick off the Hugh Grant portion of the proceedings, and we'll have to catch up with Ms. Roberts again later in the month.
THE PLOT: The life of a simple bookshop owner changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world.
AFTER: Finally, a romance film that I can classify as slightly above average - in which we learn that British people are weird, but Welsh people are weirder, celebrities can fall in love with regular humans, and press junkets are pretty much the worst thing in the world.
The comedy here comes from the "Fawlty Towers" school of British comedy, proving that John Cleese is in fact the master of this genre. For those not in the know, or who haven't seen "A Fish Called Wanda", another great example of the genre, the rules of comedy dictate that when British people find themselves in the most embarrassing situations, they cannot admit fault, no matter what the cost. Cleese played Basil Fawlty, a hotel manager who refused to show any sign of weakness in front of his guests or employees - so if he drove across town to pick up a roast duck, for example, (after his drunken chef proved incapable of cooking one) he'd rush the duck into the dining room, spectacularly lift the cloche in front of the guests, only to find - well, not a roast duck, for sure. But whatever was there, he'd have to act like it was meant to be there, because to admit any mistake on his part would be distinctly un-British.
There's a British parlor game depicted here, when there's only one brownie left at dessert, and each person at the dinner party tries to detail how dreadful their life is, and the winner (loser?) gets the brownie. The famous actress makes a valiant attempt to make her charmed life seem dreadful - she had to get facial surgery, her looks will eventually fade, Hollywood will soon stop hiring her due to her age - but it's to no avail. The other partygoers refuse to acknowledge that her life could possibly be miserable. By the same token, I refuse to feel sorry for a celebrity, or even a caricature of one, who can't seem to find true love and only has fame and fortune to console her.
While I agree that paparazzi and the whole TMZ culture is comprised of lowlife scum, individuals who struggle to become famous have no right to complain about their lack of private life after they succeed. If you can't handle the publicity machine, or the fact that those pictures you posed for years ago have resurfaced, then maybe fame isn't your cup of tea. Cash your $15 million check, and go open a bakery or something.
The "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy..." line got really overplayed in its day, just like "You had me at hello..." from "Jerry McGuire" or "I wish I knew how to quit you..." from "Brokeback Mountain". But it's not even the best romantic line in the film - that comes later, during the press conference, when Anna's asked how long she's planning to stay in the U.K. But somehow the earlier line got all the attention.
Also starring Hugh Grant (last seen in "Cloud Atlas"), Rhys Ifans (last seen in "The Shipping News"), Hugh Bonneville (last seen in "Tomorrow Never Dies"), Gina McKee, Emma Chambers, Tim McInnerny (last seen in "Johnny English Reborn"), James Dreyfus, with cameos from Alec Baldwin (last seen in "Blue Jasmine"), Emily Mortimer (last seen in "The Kid"), Mischa Barton, Matthew Modine (last seen in "Pacific Heights").
RATING: 6 out of 10 guinea fowl
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