Really Really Really Bad

Rating: 1/10 (29 March 2004)

Okay, I'm resisting the temptation to say "crap, actually" but that's exactly what it is. And I loved Notting Hill so it's nothing against Richard Curtis, or romantic comedies : whatever. It's just a really really bad film. You want gags? There's very few here, except for the odd Hugh Grant scene. You want romance? All you get is a snap-shot of about 10 different couples, and with only one exception you couldn't care less about any of them. This is a simply awful screenplay, and although there isn't anything wrong with the direction, I suspect now that the only reason Richard Curtis directed it himself is because no-one else would have touched it. And yes, it is anti-american, which a lot of people may not care about, and bizarrely enough anti-airport security as well, which most people probably would. However ... Colin Firth's scenes with the Portuguese lady were okay, actually (sorry) : as these were also predominantly set outside London / the UK it makes me wonder whether the writer might hit the mark again if he dared to write next time about something / somewhere a bit different to the imaginary London yuppy sapville he seems to rely on so strongly.