5. Notting Hill
Ah Hugh. Hugh, Hugh, Hugh. They say the simple things in life are the best, which is perhaps why Mr Grant is so often chosen to play the lead in movies of this ilk. The first glance of his floppy-moppy-a-little-off-the-sides-and-nothing-off-the-toppy hair bounding onto the screen sets the tone perfectly for whats to follow. As described on IMDB The life of a simple bookshop owner changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world and in a beautifully Vonnegut-esque use of metafiction, the most famous film star in the world is played by none other than Julia Roberts! Who happened to be the most famous female film star in the world at the time! Blimey, they knew what they were doing. It's a work of pure fantasy in which the owner of a tiny bookshop in London lives in a multi-million pound house in Notting Hill, albeit supplemented by the income of an unemployed Welsh scuba diver. Thankfully he has his friends to rely on - a small group of equally unsuccessful people living in extremely expensive properties and together they work through life's problems. Perhaps one of the more enjoyable scenes is the dinner party where Roberts' character, with a face full of teeth and nowhere to put them, smiles and laughs away the evening in the company of the normal folk, before disappearing to sit on a bench and listen to some Ronan Keating. On the surface the film appears to have been written by Bridget Jones, stuffed inside a Valentine's Day card addressed to herself and posted off in the hope that she suffered serious memory loss before receiving it and being convinced she has found true love.
So why should guys secretly love this movie?
Bubbling under its saccharine surface is something with great appeal to a large section of the male population. The lead character owns a business a shop which sells travel books. This could easily be replicated by any number of items from comic books and video games to movies or sporting memorabilia. He is his own boss, he sells a product he cares about and lives in one of the greatest cities in the world - yet he is rarely seen putting in any actual hard work or effort. His days are filled lounging around, sipping coffee and delighting at his wonderful hair. He spills a drink over one of the most beautiful and famous women in the world and, rather than receiving a firm slap from a bodyguard or a verbal wrangling from her entourage, she falls in love with him. Not only does she fall in love with him, she does so with him barely being able to string a sentence together or hold any sort of meaningful conversation. The perceived message of the movie is that love conquers all, that true love knows no bounds and can be overcome by the will and desire of two individuals to be together. The actual message behind the movie is that men should make absolutely zero effort to change, that they should continue to work 4 hours per week in their failing business and that, as long as you have a decent head of hair, multi-millionaire actresses will shower you with gifts and repeatedly declare their love for you. All this happens while the multi-millionaire actresses desperately strive to drag themselves down to your level and renounce everything they've ever known and held dear, so that you don't have to change your life in any way. In short, it depicts a life most men would gladly live. Devoid of responsibility, minimum effort reaps maximum gain. Oh and Rhys Ifans is really funny too.