Plodding direction spoils this otherwise sweet film

Rating: 5/10 (17 January 2000)

This movie has realistic and cozy apartment and shop sets. A lot of care was taken with the details of the background. And some of the supporting characters are good. Those are the best things I can say about Notting Hill.
Overall experience: disappointing, but I blame the director most of all. With two stars of proven charm and talent, and a fairly cute storyline, there is no other explanation for the fact that this movie moves slowly and is boring nearly all the way through.
The slow pacing was completely wrong. It should have been a vibrant screwball comedy with touches of pathos, and dialogue whipping by a mile a minute instead of spoken like it was War and Peace.You keep hoping for something to happen but only get a few interesting scenes and a lot of filler. Also, much of the dialogue is mumbled.
The premise needed to be set up properly to be believable: a famous movie star meets an ordinary guy and they fall in love. It could have worked if it had been done right. It just seemed like no one really tried.
If this is the biggest star in the world she would not have that flat, dark hair dye. It's about all you can focus on during the whole movie as it stands out like a sore thumb. Actresses move heaven and earth to get a shine in their hair even if they have to dye it for a role. You don't see movie stars with fake looking, dull hair. But except for the brief scenes from her movies and the newspaper photos, "Anna" has the same matte, straight, lank hair you would expect in a gritty drama about prison. She also has almost no makeup on. Therefore it is impossible to suspend disbelief and accept her as a movie star even though it's Julia Roberts! The thing about Julia is she doesn't look like a movie star. It takes a lot of makeup to make her look that way and they did not try.
Take Pretty Woman. It was a truly unbelievable plot, yet you could suspend disbelief, get into it and enjoy it, because it was played so intensely. They had fun making that movie and it showed.
Both Julia and Hugh have been hilarious and charming in other films so there is no excuse for the flatness of this movie. It all comes down to poor direction, inadequate dialogue and lack of any real character development.
The only fresh and funny characters were in supporting roles, but these were all too brief, just interludes and relief from the somber romance/non-romance that was supposed to be going on.
Over an hour of plodding, predictable events - then suddenly it comes to life like a Pink Panther movie. There's a spark of emotion and some action! But it fizzles out into a standard Hollywood sunset.
I thought for sure this would be better than Runaway Bride, which I felt was average. But no, it is not even as good. You never can tell.
Julia and Hugh deserve better movies than this. Put unknowns in their roles and it would have sunk like a stone. People went just to see them, and tried to find something good to say about it. But the emperor has no clothes!

No originality, no charisma displayed by either star, in a story that never moves you, except for five minutes near the end (Did they get a guest director for that segment? It doesn't fit in with the rest).