Smith’s movie, video reviews move to scene

NOTTING HILL

“Notting Hill” features Julia Roberts as one of the world’s most famous women. That’s quite a stretch for Roberts, one of the world’s most famous women, not to mention a terrific risk.

Still, the film knows what it’s dealing with: At every possible moment, it capitalizes on Roberts’ impossible smile while wisely shifting the focus from her passable acting talent to narrow in on her celebrity.

Director Roger Michell doesn’t stop there. In an effort to complete the thin illusion being drawn in “Hill,” he puts Roberts’ face on the rear end of city buses, prints untrue stories about her character on the front page of London tabloids, drags her through the thick muck of stardom. Hell, he even puts her in a porno film.

And then he does something that gives his film unexpected appeal and depth — he allows audiences to draw their own conclusions and parallels between Roberts and Anna Scott, the moody, unloved, unhappy, long-suffering megastar she plays in “Hill.”

In interviews, Roberts has said she isn’t at all like Anna (and who can blame her?), but if it weren’t for the small matter of that porno film, the similarities are obvious and clearly the heart of the film.

“Notting Hill” is a very good film. In spite of being desperately contrived, it’s sweetly funny, a witty, heartfelt romantic comedy that rivals “Four Weddings and a Funeral” because, well, it’s from the writer and producer of “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

In the film, Anna longs for a private life. She itches to get away from the media and find happiness with a regular guy.

Hugh Grant is that regular guy. But before you think of his evening with Divine Brown, know this: There is real chemistry between Roberts and Grant. When these two kiss, it never feels forced. Together, they have an easy charm, a warm charisma, which is strengthened by a superb supporting cast. Coast down this hill and enjoy. Grade: B+

HIDEOUS KINKY

Gillies MacKinnon’s “Hideous Kinky” is neither hideous nor kinky, which is certain to disappoint some as it stars Kate Winslet in her first film since she took off her clothes and went down on “Titanic.”

In “Kinky,” Winslet once again sheds her inhibitions (and her clothes) as Julia, a hippy English hippie of 1972 in search of personal and spiritual guidance, something this elusive, uneven film doesn’t make sufficiently clear until midway through.

With her two daughters, Bea (Bella Riza) and Lucy (Carrie Mullan), reluctantly in tow, Julia travels to Marrakech, where she falls in love with a brooding street performer named Bilal (Said Taghmaoui), nearly loses Bea to illness and is forced to grow up.

Sparked by Winslet’s excellent, unaffected performance, “Hideous Kinky” is a rich, visual pleasure that moves to its own free-swinging, staccato rhythm — one that effectively captures the chaotic feel of the times even while it slightly undermines the film’s power.

Still, its cast is strong, particularly Winslet, who is luminous, a natural, gifted actress always worth watching. Just as her performance lifted “Titanic” even as the ship sank, it keeps “Hideous Kinky” afloat. Grade: B

THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR

Hear that creaking last weekend? It was Columbia Pictures stepping off Roland Emmerich’s new film, “The Thirteenth Floor.”

Apparently, the studio decided to launch “Floor” on Memorial Day weekend, which would have been a great sign of confidence in Emmerich, the producer of “Independence Day” and last year’s fleabag “Godzilla,” had “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” not been in town to gobble up all those sci-fi bucks.

Not only is “Menace” just gathering steam, but its special effects are light-years ahead of those shimmering in “Floor,” a film about time travel and dueling Los Angeles universes that’s loosely based on Daniel Galouye’s 1964 novel, “Simulacron 3.”

There’s no question that the noirish “Floor” has its moments, particularly in its seamless, computerized revisioning of Los Angeles in 1937 (the effect is the best part of the movie). But the film has had the computer chips sucked out of it with a been-there, seen-that feeling. It’s about altered realities controlled by computers, which David Cronenberg recently explored in “eXistenZ,” and which “The Matrix” tackled two months ago with stunning box office numbers ($150-plus million and counting).

Further crippling “Floor” is its script, which again follows “The Matrix” in that it’s too dense to fully enjoy. The performances by Gretchen Moll and Vincent D’Onofrio are good, but unfortunately are never enough to lift this predictable film above basement level. Rent”Dark City” instead. Grade: C-

On video

WAKING NED DEVINE

This week’s best bet on video is “Waking Ned Devine,” a delightful comedy about an elderly Irishman who wins $7 million pounds in the Irish lottery — and dies at the shock of it.

Jackie O’Shea (Ian Bannen) and Michael O’Sullivan (David Kelly) are quick to action: They know if they don’t convince the lottery official that Michael is Ned Devine, the money will be redeposited into the pot and eventually won by someone else.

So they do what anyone would do: They plot to call that money their own in a wonderfully giddy, mischievous film that’s as light as the head on a freshly poured Guinness stout. Grade: B+

Christopher Smith reviews films each Monday and Thursday in the Bangor Daily News. Tonight on WLBZ’s “News Center 5:30 Today” and “NewsCenter Tonight,” he appears in The Video Corner.