NATAL EM NOTTING HILL

I gave it five stars for effort! All the actors seemed very enthusiastic about their roles, but they really had nothing to work with and none of them rose above it, either.

The premise was promising, but the execution was abysmal. I was sitting home alone, bored, the night before Thanksgiving, and decided a cheesy Hallmark Xmas movie was what I needed. This didn't disappoint. I laughed at myself for the entire time because I kept watching it. Kind of like watching a train wreck.

The writing was amateurish, the dialog was totally cringe, the conflicts were silly and shallow, and about the only thing really interesting was the reference near the end to the excellent TV series "Ted Lasso".

But I had fun making fun of it. Just wish I'd had someone here to laugh with.

Featuring plenty of the Christmas traditions I know and love as an Australian, and filmed on location in London - which is a big deal, as many Hallmark Christmas movies are set in cities that they're not actually filmed in - Christmas in Notting Hill is a decent festive romance centered around Graham Savoy (William Moseley, of 'The Royals' and 'The Chronicles of Narnia' fame) who is an injured Premier League soccer/football star who must consider his future in the game. He meets Georgia (Sarah Ramos), a special education teacher from America, in London to celebrate Christmas with her sister.

Some Hallmark tropes feature here, but with a decidedly British touch.

Mosely and Ramos are pretty good together, but there were a few scenes that didn't make sense. Like Graham being able to walk and run despite him supposedly having an ACL tear.

Reasonable entertainment, but not nearly as enjoyable as, say, 'A Biltmore Christmas'.

5.8/10 (6)

Same story, different country. It doesn't matter if it's America or England. It's a small world where the love interests will collide.

The thing that drew me to checking out this film was the inclusion of Association Football. Football is my favourite sport, and so I got curious on how the romantic dynamic would be incorporated.

It went about as well as I imagined. Only a slight bit of the game being shown, and the rest inferred along the way. The initial romantic meet up was classic, and the continuation really wasn't much of a surprise.

The two main leads were cute together, and had good chemistry. The second couple of the film, while not the primary story per se, they were also enjoyable.

My downsides were passion, editing and effects. While I did enjoy the actors, at times, I didn't feel there was a lot of passion which made the less than ninety minute film feel stretched. The editing and effects were a little choppy at times. Quick succession of camera cuts that seemed unnecessary. Also, the effects of snow felt too fake which bothered me for some shots. It looked like an overlay on the screen.

Overall, not a terrible movie. It's bad enough to get a 5.8 out of me, but just good enough to be rated a 6. If you're a Hallmark fan then you won't go wrong and you'll enjoy it I'm sure. If you're not a Hallmark fan and you're being forced into watching one then this is one of the better ones. You may still dislike it, but it's not as cheesy as others.

That's all for now. Thank you for taking the time to read my review. Until next time.... Enjoy the show!

The lead actress, Sarah Ramos, is so wooden, it was really hard to watch. At first, I thought it was just the storyline and the character, but no, even as the character was supposed to lighten up this Actress did not lighten up and was so wooden. It was really difficult to watch.

The lead male was charming though. I haven't seen him in many of the other Hallmark films, but would watch him in other films.

They also need to hire more professional hair and makeup artists. The hair for the women distracted from the action of the film. This particular film fell far short of the standards for a Hallmark movie.

I agree with most people about Georgia and her terrible acting. Her makeup alone was clownish and completely distracting. The only thing worse was her terrible personality. I felt zero romance or chemistry between the two. I am not even sure what he saw in her, it wasn't her charm because she had none. There was little to no humor in this like Notting Hill. Just a girl taking out her insecurities on everyone else. The plot dragged if there even was one, and the ending was sloppy and incomplete. There was zero character growth and zero romance. I love the lead gentleman and he is quite a good actor but I still would never watch this again.