Movie Review: Notting Hill
This isn’t a love story. It’s a warning label.
NOTE: You can find a condensed version of this review in our first Cinnatimes Magazine, available at this link.
Many of my best friends swear by Notting Hill as one of their favorite rom-coms, if not the favorite. My friends and I were having a “last-day-of-school” party one time and needed a movie to watch. Notting Hill was thrown in the air as an option multiple times. Thank god we didn’t watch it.
Sure, some might call me a critic, but this movie was actually bad (in my humble opinion).
When I saw that Netflix had added it to their collection, I figured it was time to give it a shot. Instead of trying out movies like Miss Congeniality or Pride & Prejudice, I picked this one. Lucky me.
I get the appeal: an American movie star falls for a humble British bookstore owner, and their love story unfolds in a long and complicated and dramatic way! Plus, it was filmed in 1999, so it's grouped with classics like Before Sunrise and Titanic, but not quite in the same realm as movies like Sidelined: The QB and Me or After. It’s got that good rom-com cinematography and dialogue. It all seemed perfect on paper.
Warning: slight spoilers ahead.
I found the introduction intriguing. I didn’t mind Spike’s childish antics or the conveniently spilled juice on a t-shirt. What lost me was Anna Scott — this world-famous actress — kissing William Thacker out of nowhere. They barely knew each other. There was no real connection yet, no earned intimacy. And worse — she has a boyfriend. A Baldwin, no less. She’s in a relationship, yet she’s wandering around London, cozying up to a stranger, meeting his quirky family, bonding with his oddball roommate. It feels careless, like she’s playing pretend in someone else’s life with no thought to the one she already has.
That kiss wasn’t romantic. It was confusing, unearned, and a little bit sad. Especially cause William’s now parading around London, thinking this famous star actually likes him. He pretends to be a reporter, room service, etc, all for nothing.
Notting Hill is praised as a beloved romantic comedy, but to me, it felt like a lazy, uneven love story propped up by star power and wistful thinking. Beneath the charming British fame story lies a hollow connection.
Julia Robert’s, while talented, annoyed me in this movie. Her character’s personality was lazy, sometimes annoying, and too much of a “no strings” type of girl. Her arc across the movie starts and ends with her being famous. All she has to her name are mood swings and entitlement! And when she actually gets in trouble for her actions, she runs to lovely old British Will, who lets her in in more ways than one.
Hugh Grant’s William isn’t the best, cheery old guy, either. He’s a people pleaser. He never stands up for himself, allows himself to be humiliated, only takes up responsibility and fights against Anna in the end. When he does finally choose his own self-respect, he delivers one of the best lines in the movie.
The thing is, with you I'm in real danger. It seems like a perfect situation, apart from that foul temper of yours, but my relatively inexperienced heart would I fear not recover if I was, once again, cast aside as I would absolutely expect to be.
The ending was sloppy. Sure, they slept with each other, sure, he cried, but they also don’t know each other as much as a normal couple should. Anna’s made mistakes. She cheated on her ex-boyfriend, blamed Will for their little charade coming out to the paparazzi, and acts snobby.
Even that iconic line — “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy…” — didn’t live up to all of the standards I had heard about it. Julia Roberts’s delivery didn’t move me. Her awkward smile after every word made it feel forced and unearned. I didn’t see love there. I saw a scene trying way too hard to be iconic.
By the time Will interrupted Anna’s press conference near the end, I almost got it. I saw a flicker of something real. But then I remembered everything that led up to that moment. The lies, the manipulation, the lack of accountability. I couldn’t feel the magic. Honestly? I understood Cher kissing her ex-stepbrother in Clueless more than this relationship.
Maybe I’ll give it another watch. Maybe something will click the second time. But right now? Notting Hill didn’t feel like a rom-com classic. It felt like a fantasy where emotional honesty was sacrificed for the sake of charm.
And just between us? 10 Things I Hate About You clears every time.
OVERALL MOVIE SCORE: ★★★ OUT OF 5
Hugh Grant wants to make a sequel. That says something.
