Entertaining...ok for a chick flick

Rating: 6/10 (6 June 1999)

As I said to my friend as I left Notting Hill, I tend to like Julia Roberts movies, despite the fact that she plays the same character in every one. The same indignant stare and the same hurt-about-to-cry gulp, for example. Her revelatory, heartwrenching speeches all strike the same chord in my mind. But that's okay, because I like her style for some reason, and I almost always enjoy watching her films, at least while they are taking place. Notting Hill was no different. I laughed hard, I enjoyed the plot for the most part, and the eccentric characters. But I left thinking, "mediocre." Why? Well, the cheese factor, for one. I know this is a love story, but PLEASE. They concentrated WAY too much on that, and way too little on what I thought would be the interesting part. They should have put more media hassle in there. There was this one cool artistic scene with Hugh Grant walking through the streets and the seasons. That was neat. Also, I mean, the characters were pretty good. It may have been more effective NOT to use a real high name actress to play the part, but then again, it was easy to relate. Oh well, it's not a waste of your money, but it's not the best film I've seen in its genre.