Notting Hill (HD-DVD)

 

Picture: B     Sound: B     Extras: C-     Film: C-

 

 

Roger Mitchell’s Notting Hill (1999) is a strange and unsuccessful attempt to recreate the success of the Hugh Grant hit Four Weddings & A Funeral bringing back Grant and teaming him up (as a bookseller) with Julia Roberts (as a movie start he becomes interested in) and hoping sparks fly.  Roberts was red hot at the time and the pairing makes sense, but the film (from Four Weddings writer Richard Curtis) never really works.

 

It was a moderate hit at the time, but you never hear too many people talking about it.  It is pleasant passive entertainment at best, but very lightweight and stays flat throughout.  The only novelty it has going for it is Roberts in England, the locations of which is a plus for the film.  Otherwise, this is dull.  Rhys Ifans also stars.

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 VC-1 digital High Definition image was shot by Michael Coulter, B.S.C. in Super 35mm and this is an older HD transfer with more than a few soft moments.  Universal rightly thought this master would suffice and that softness is form the transfer, not from the way it was shot.  It looks better than a DVD and is likely the old master used for the D-VHS version.

 

The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 sounds like a second-generation copy of the original DTS tracks that the film sported, though his was never a sonically superior film in the first place.  The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is a little better, but nothing spectacular and more like the old DTS.  Trevor Jones supplies the predictable score.  Extras include two Music Videos, music highlights, deleted scenes, theatrical trailer, Spotlight On Location featurette, Hugh Grant’s Movie Tips, The Travel Book and full feature length audio commentary with Mitchell, Curtis & Producer Duncan Kenworthy.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo