Rewatched it yesterday and had it better in mind than it actually is. The story is ok-ish for a rom com, I guess, but there are so many holes in the plot that I lost interest after a while.
There is no chemistry between the leads. Both characters might be somewhat interesting in their own right, but I simply cannot picture them as a couple. Grants constant blinking and stuttering is probably supposed to be cute, but after a while it's just embarrassing and cringy. Roberts on the other hand has not much of a character at all. She is simply good looking and plain and does not seem to have any believable background. She neither has friends, nor interests, nor anything likeable except her looks. She is constantly depressed or on the run and seems to have severe psychological problems. (She wears a couple of nice outfits though.) If she is Grants love interest, I must have missed the flying sparks.
The family sub-plot was one of the better parts, because at least each of them had some interesting theme, but at the same time everything seemed too far from reality for me: Nobody really seemed to work for a living (nor did it matter if they did or not), they simply existed in this parallel universe called Notting Hill. Their relationships also did not matter much. It felt like watching chat bots talk to each other. Even when the characters delivered some plot-turning story (not being able to have children, getting fired, getting engaged) this was just wiped away with laughter or a stupid comment in the next second. Why bring it up then? I often thought throughout the movie, that many scenes might have looked good on paper, but ended up lenghty and stupid when actually filmed.
I assume movies like this have their audience, but although I like rom coms, this one is simply not good or at least I did not feel it.
There is no chemistry between the leads. Both characters might be somewhat interesting in their own right, but I simply cannot picture them as a couple. Grants constant blinking and stuttering is probably supposed to be cute, but after a while it's just embarrassing and cringy. Roberts on the other hand has not much of a character at all. She is simply good looking and plain and does not seem to have any believable background. She neither has friends, nor interests, nor anything likeable except her looks. She is constantly depressed or on the run and seems to have severe psychological problems. (She wears a couple of nice outfits though.) If she is Grants love interest, I must have missed the flying sparks.
The family sub-plot was one of the better parts, because at least each of them had some interesting theme, but at the same time everything seemed too far from reality for me: Nobody really seemed to work for a living (nor did it matter if they did or not), they simply existed in this parallel universe called Notting Hill. Their relationships also did not matter much. It felt like watching chat bots talk to each other. Even when the characters delivered some plot-turning story (not being able to have children, getting fired, getting engaged) this was just wiped away with laughter or a stupid comment in the next second. Why bring it up then? I often thought throughout the movie, that many scenes might have looked good on paper, but ended up lenghty and stupid when actually filmed.
I assume movies like this have their audience, but although I like rom coms, this one is simply not good or at least I did not feel it.