William Thacker lives with flatmate Spike in Notting Hill. At William’s bookshop, The Travel Book Company, colleague Martin goes to get coffees. International megastar Anna Scott then walks in the shop. William jokes about a book she’s looking at, then confronts a shoplifter. The shoplifter asks for Anna’s autograph. She writes “Dear Rufus, you belong in jail”.
Moments later, William collides with Anna in the street, spilling orange juice over both of them. He offers to get her spick and span and back on the street again in five minutes, he lives eighteen yards away.
He shows her the bathroom and the phone. She soon appears in a different outfit. He offers her many different refreshments — even honeyed apricots. When he asks if she says no to everything, she says no.
He says it’s been surreal, but nice. She leaves, then returns for her other bag — kissing him on the mouth. She swears William to silence over her visit. Then, Spike and William are watching Anna in a black and white movie. William calls her fairly fabulous.
Spike says he’s taken two messages for William. One was from William’s Mum and the other was from an American girl called Anna, staying at the Ritz.
William calls the hotel and uses the name “Flintstone”. William and another man are given pamphlets saying “Helix,” featuring a photo of Anna. The other man says he’s from Time Out. William impulsively says he’s from Horse and Hound.
William has five minutes with Anna. Her PR Chief comes and goes throughout the interview. Each time he’s in the room, William reverts to formal, Horse and Hound-related questions.
William asks her out. She tells her people she’s spending the evening with Britain’s premier equestrian journalist. It’s William’s sister’s birthday.
When William and Anna arrive, Max is burning the food. Bella and Max are stunned when they recognise Anna. William’s sister, Honey, says Anna’s the most beautiful woman in the world. She suggests Anna marry Will, then they can be sisters.
Bernie arrives. He asks Anna about being an actress, saying he’s in the stock markets. His actor friends get £8,000 per year. Anna says she was paid $15m for her last film.
Soon, Bernie realises Anna is Anna Scott the film star. William’s friends all quietly contemplate their embarrassing exchanges with the movie star.
After dinner, Max says he’ll award the last brownie to the saddest act there. Bernie says he works in a job he doesn’t understand, with people promoted over his head. Honey says she works at London’s worst record shop and has feathers instead of hair.
Bella’s stuck in a wheelchair and she’ll never have children. William is unsuccessful professionally and his school nickname was Floppy. William reaches for the last brownie, but Anna wants her turn. She’s been dieting since she was nineteen, she’s been in abusive relationships, the newspapers treat her heartbreak as entertainment and it took two painful operations to help with her looks and she dreads getting older. Everybody laughs at her pathetic attempt to get the brownie.
Before Anna and William leave, Anna wishes Honey happy birthday and calls Honey her “style guru”. As soon as the couple leaves, the other four shriek and yell.
William was called Floppy because of his hair. Then, he mentions the local, mysterious, communal gardens. She wants to go in. He says they’re private gardens, but he does what he wants. He slips while climbing the fence, saying “whoopsidaisies”. Anna laughs, saying nobody’s said “whoopsidaisies” for fifty years, and even then it was little girls with blonde ringlets.
Anna jumps the fence. Once both inside, she kisses him. She spots a bench engraved with lovers’ sentiments and encourages William to sit with her.
Next day, William can’t find his glasses, so he wears his prescription Scuba mask to the cinema. At dinner, a table of city types discuss Anna Scott, comparing actresses to prostitutes. William confronts them. She then insults them — before instantly regretting it. William goes up to Anna’s hotel room, but, unexpectedly, her boyfriend’s there. William’s the only person who didn’t know Anna had a boyfriend. Max then arranges a series of ultimately unsuccessful dates for William.
Then, Anna Scott appears at William’s house in tears. The press are claiming she did a porn film. Also, her relationship with her boyfriend has reached the point where she couldn’t remember why they were together.
Anna compliments William’s Chagall print. Love should be like floating through a dark blue sky — with a goat playing the violin. He shows her to his room, and he sleeps in the lounge. Spike crudely suggests William make a move romantically with Anna. Anna and William kiss, embrace and sleep together.
In the morning, Anna says Rita Hayworth said “men went to bed with the dream and didn’t like it when they woke up with reality”. William emphasises Anna’s lovelier this morning than she has ever been.
Anna brings William breakfast in bed. He says she can stay forever. But, with hundreds of paparazzi on his doorstep, she makes a phone call. Spike opens the door half-naked, posing for the cameras.
Anna angrily blames Spike for having informed the press where she’s staying. William apologises, calling her finger-pointing spectacularly unfair. He says today’s papers will be rubbish tomorrow. Anna says newspapers last forever. Soon, Anna’s hustled away to a car. Spike confesses he told some people down the pub.
At Tony’s restaurant, Tony announces he’s officially going under. Bernie announces he’s been fired. Then, Honey announces she’s getting engaged. She tells Spike she’s talking about him. He thinks it’s groovy. William apologises for his behaviour over the past six months. Then, Max says Anna’s currently filming on Hampstead Heath.
Anna sees William and he’s shown through security. He’s given a set of headphones so he can hear the dialogue and is given a seat. He can hear Anna talking with a male co-star. She explains that William is someone from the past and she doesn’t know what he’s doing there. William struggles to process this.
At William’s bookshop, Anna shows up with a painting. She says she’s leaving for America. She asks if he could like her again. He says she was offhand about him. She says the actor with her was one of the most indiscreet men in England.
William asks if he can say no to her kind request. It seems like a perfect situation except for Anna’s foul temper. Also, William’s relatively-inexperienced heart probably wouldn’t recover if he was cast aside again — especially with pictures of her everywhere.
She confirms it’s a real “no” and praises his good decision. She says the fame thing isn’t real. She’s also just a girl, asking a boy to love her. She pecks him on the cheek and leaves.
Later, William asks his friends about this decision. Honey says Anna’s nothing special. Bella says all actresses are as mad as snakes. Max says never trust a vegetarian. Spike arrives and Honey tells him William turned down Anna Scott. Spike calls William a daft prick.
Bella asks if the painting Anna gave William is an original Chagall. William believes it is. Bernie clarifies that Anna wanted to go out with William. He says anyone saying they wanna go out with you is pretty great. After a moment, William asks how fast Max’s car is.
Everyone, including Bella, is bundled into the car headed for the Ritz, all offering conflicting route advice. Max performs a U-turn and drives through a no entry sign.
At front desk, William discovers that a “Miss Pocahontas” left an hour ago for a press conference at the Savoy. At a busy junction, Spike gets out and interrupts traffic so Max can get through. Honey calls him her hero.
At the Savoy, William’s asked if he’s an accredited member of the press. He says yes and flashes his Blockbuster Video membership card. Then, Bella arrives saying William’s with her. She’s writing an article about how London hotels treat people in wheelchairs. The receptionist softens and shows them to the Lancaster room. William runs there.
Anna announces she won’t be making any films for the next year and that she’s leaving England that night. William asks if Mr Thacker got down on his knees, would she reconsider staying in England. Anna says yes and whispers to her PR Chief.
A journalist is asked to repeat his question about how long she’s intending to stay in Britain. This time, she says “indefinitely”. Honey embraces Spike and Bella and Max kiss. Bernie kisses a random woman and William and Anna smile at each other across the room.
Soon, William and Anna are married. William’s now part of her red carpet lifestyle. And, she’s part of his lifestyle. In the sunshine, they both recline in a communal garden. Anna is pregnant, laying on William as he reads a book.
Starring Hugh Grant. Julia Roberts. Richard McCabe. Rated 15. Dir Roger Michell. Released in the UK 1999. Runtime 2hr 4mins
