Notting Hill is Notting but Junk

By Izel Bonilla ‘26

Notting Hill is a disappointment. Notting Hill is up there with the rom-com greats, but it 

does little to deserve its spot. Will, played by Hugh Grant, is the owner of a travel book store in London whose life takes a turn for the better - or for worse - when Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), a famous American actress, makes an appearance at his shop. A haphazard relationship ensues and what is supposed to be desirable, becomes undesirable through the lack of connection between the two and Roberts' dislikeable character. Despite love from the audience, Notting Hill is a huge letdown and fails to live up to its reputation. 

Notting Hill is faulty in the most important aspect of a rom-com - the romance. 

Considering that Anna is an actress living in a completely different world, it's natural that Will is awestruck by her. Yet, his unwavering disbelief that he’s interacting with her leads to awkwardness that bleeds through and taints their relationship. He initially makes a fool out of himself during their first big interaction, offering Anna a variety of drinks before reaching the lowest point when he offers her apricots soaked in honey all while she repeatedly rejects his offers. He creates an uncomfortable atmosphere that makes the kiss that the two share afterwards sudden and bizarre, especially after that embarrassing fiasco. Time and time again, Will retreats to this sense of amazement. At one point, he says, "It's the sort of thing that happens in dreams, not in real life" and "It does strike me as, well, surreal that I’m allowed to see you naked" after a night spent together. As the movie goes on, the romance becomes unbelievable. It's hard to believe that Scott truly has interest in a man who stumbles over his words and feels like he's in a fairytale. But, if there’s one thing that Notting Hill does manage to do right, it’s the classic late night walk scene between the main characters. It’s the only time where they have half-believable chemistry as the pair shares a moment of playful banter and laughs. 

Despite this moment, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Anna Scott is a total jerk. To start 

things off, she cheats on her boyfriend, who’s equally as much of a jerk as she is. Cheating on partners in rom-coms is normalized and brushed off as "okay" when the other person “deserves” it. Anna isn’t a stranger to this trope and happily leads Will on behind her boyfriend’s back. Will’s unexpected discovery of Anna’s boyfriend leads to the first halt in his situationship with Anna. Not surprisingly, she ghosts him and only shows up months later when she has no one else to turn to during a scandal. Not long after, she leaves Will in the dust once more when she lashes out at him, accusing him of tipping off the paparazzi of her whereabouts. Her entitlement makes her insufferable - she just waltzes back in hoping to be taken in by Will only to waltz back out with insults and the hurtful statement that she would regret the night before forever. Her behavior throughout the film makes her love confession at the end so ingenuine and hypocritical. Anna waters herself down to "just a girl standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her" in order to separate herself from her celebrity identity and demonstrate some humanity, but she fails to see this same humanity within Will. Will is also "just a boy" whose feelings have been played with not once, but twice. 

Together, Anna's disregard for Will's perspective and Will's awkwardness present an 

undesirable romance. Rom-coms are meant to make the audience feel something - to remind them that in some part of the world a love like that truly exists. The audience is meant to resonate with the characters and dream of being wooed by the love interest. Notting Hill is the exact opposite - there's nothing about Will and Anna's relationship that watchers should yearn for. Nobody would willingly want to get played and be a doormat or be a cheater and then get ambushed by the paparazzi in a compromising outfit. The peer pressure that Will experiences is another component that makes the relationships, both romantic and platonic, in Notting Hill less than ideal. When Will finally steps up and rejects Anna's confession, his friends are disappointed. They try to mask their disappointment, coming up with silly reasons why Will was right. But they're still seeing Anna as Anna Scott - America’s sweetheart and a "goddess", not as Anna who had Will moping around for months. If Anna weren't famous, her actions would be unjustifiable, but because she's THE Anna Scott, everything is fine and Will is a "daft prick" for turning her down. 

Will and Anna’s relationship in Roger Michell's 1999 Notting Hill isn’t the standard, but 

rather the warning. Anna’s treatment of Will is especially prevalent in the era of talking stages and situationships. Young adults and teenagers alike today have normalized awkwardness, lack of mutual respect, and overall toxic behaviors. Girls going back to guys who ghosted them and only cared about their own needs should not be the norm nor is it healthy to go on for months without some type of label. The behavior displayed in Notting Hill serves as a wake-up call for those stuck in the 21st century's relationship scene.