Top 10 British Movies

10.  Knotting Hill - "I'm also just a girl. Standing infront of a boy. Asking him to love her." Julia Robert's smile, Hugh Grants floppy hair and boyish charm, a recipe for screen magic!!

9. A Hard Days Night - I love this movie! My favorite scene is when the fab four sing on the train to a bunch of adoring girls. The only thing that has ever bothered me about HDN, is when their manager gets frustrated with John and jokingly threatens to shoot him =( 

8.  Hot Fuzz - Small town charm, big time action. Even though their accents are so thick you have to watch this movie a few times before you can hear half the jokes, I've never laughed harder then when they discover the town's living-statue has been murdered! Yarp...

7. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging - One of my favorite book series as a kid, rolled up into one funny-hip-adorable movie! If you don't know anything about the story, let me explain the title; Georgia is a 14 years old girl with a cat named Angus, a fear of thongs, and a dream to one day snog (kiss) a teenage sex god (a new boy at her school named Robbie). This movie is full of funny British lingo I can't wait to use in England!

6. The Holiday - I'm pretty sure every girl in America saw this movie, along with every guy wanting to date one of these girls. From my favorite director Nancy Meyers (what women want, somethings gotta give, it's complicated, etc), The Holiday has the best on-screen chemistry since Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. The male leads are so charming you even fall in love with Jack Black! My favorite scene? Probably a tie between Cameron Diaz rocking out to The Killers and Jude Law crawling into his daughters bedroom tent.

5. A Fish Called Wanda - A totally ZANY British comedy. Definitely Kevin Kline at his best!

4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - "You've got two coconuts and your bangin'em together!" Need I saw more?

3. Four Weddings and a Funeral - Even though I think Andy McDowell is a total jerk in this movie... Hugh Grant is perfect, and I cry every time his friend reads that W.H. Auden poem "Stop all the Clocks" at his partners funeral.

2. Love Actually - "Whenever I get gloomy about the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport." A brilliant movie about love in all its forms. I cry like a baby at the beginning, middle and end of this movie. Plus its a Christmas movie! And it has a kickass soundtrack.

1. Pride and Prejudice - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Mmmm.... Mr. Darcy. WARNING: parents if you want your daughter to be realistic about love, DO NOT let her read/see Pride and Prejudice! For no man will ever live up to Mr. Darcy. He will forever hold an insurmountable place in our hearts. I still remember seeing this movie freshman year of college with my roommate Lael. As the credits rolled I remember thinking that I never needed to see another movie, because nothing could ever top it! Keira Knightley plays a thoughtful, fiery Elizabeth Bennett; and while some thought the role of Mr. Darcy should have been retired after Colin Firth's epic portrayal, Mathew McFaden adds his own blend of Darcy's pride and fragility.

So that's my top 10! I know there are many many may more brilliant English movies. But for now I rank these the most memorable. Do you have a favorite movie that takes place in England? Make your own list. Comment and let me know!
-Leigh


Ps. Not on the list, but forever one of my favorite movies: About a Boy. I figured I couldn't have a list entirely of Hugh Grant movies...