Notting Hill
Universal Pictures | Release Date: May 28, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
3
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The overall result is a romantic comedy that indulges fantasies, calms insecurities (can an ordinary bloke stack up?), and breaks and mends hearts with surgical precision. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
It comes as a bonus that this romantic comedy is one of the rare pictures of its type that actually is about something -- the double-edged sword of celebrity. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's pure fluff, but as irresistible as cotton candy. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A pure, sweet romance that moves along with bouncy comedy and a touch of grown-up realism and rue. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Blithe and exhilarating romantic comedy. Read full review
90
Film.comNorman Green
It's irresistible.
88
Chicago TribuneMarc Caro
It's funny, sympathetic, mostly smart, and it boasts a likable cast of characters led by two performers who have star power and know how to use it. Read full review
88
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
Its deadpan wit, ingenious fairy-tale premise and superbly accomplished cast will leave you feeling positively oxygenated. Read full review
82
Mr. ShowbizEleonore Snow
A smart, sometimes pissingly funny romantic comedy that is also oddly unmoving and predictable in spots. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
For all its cheesiness, Notting Hill delivers a very great deal of pleasure. Read full review
80
VarietyDerek Elley
Has buckets to spare of that rarest screen commodity — genuine, engaging charm.
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
In the end, the movie works because Grant and Roberts are disarming geniuses at playing themselves -- and then some. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
So the film has this weird postmodernist taint: It has a self-aware script that cleverly plays off the reality of its own cast and their famous real-life contretemps. It's smart and knowing. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
A brainy weave of satire and fantasy. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
The deft, hilarious Notting Hill finds Grant's dour-droll-deprecating affliction at its most dead-on. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is bright, the dialogue has wit and intelligence, and Roberts and Grant are very easy to like. By the end, as much as we're aware of the ancient story machinery groaning away below deck, we're smiling. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
There's some very funny dialogue, but the picture falls apart when it tries to think real thoughts about celebrity, publicity, and the media. Read full review
75
New York PostRod Dreher
The frothy, feel-good Notting Hill is about as enchanting as movies get these days. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A smartly cast and consistently amusing romantic comedy. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Roberts fans will, of course, be delighted to see her in a role that plays to all her strengths -- fresh-faced looks, charming gangliness, air of infinite approachability -- and neatly sidesteps her glaring inability to act by having her more or less play herself. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It may boil down to little more than a minor variation on Four Weddings' formula, but it's an interesting and entertaining one. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
At once a light comedy and a reasonably serious meditation on the perils of fame. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
The movie has lots of glossy charm even if Ms. Roberts and Grant seem less like lovers than members of a support group for the desperately attractive. Read full review
70
TNT RoughCutJennifer Nowitzky
If you're looking for Julia Roberts (circa "Pretty Woman") playing, well, herself, and Hugh Grant (circa "Four Weddings and A Funeral") playing, well, himself, then you're in luck.
70
NewsweekJeff Giles
Adorable, if uneven, romantic comedy. Read full review
70
Film.comRobert Horton
A piece of fluff that can be enjoyed without guilt.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
In the slow coast down Notting Hill, we approach the blessed land of Nodding Off. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Notting Hill does an adequate job, but this isn't one of those landmark romantic comedies that dozens of subsequent movies will seek to emulate. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The result is two films: a big, dreary star vehicle that sags whenever its leads spend quality time together, and a mettlesome British caper whose nutsosecondary characters walk away with the movie. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleHollis Chacona
Funny, bright, sly, and unabashedly romantic, Notting Hill combines fluffy, fairy-tale fantasy with big laughs, snappy dialogue, and small moments of pain and unease to create a surprisingly satisfying two hours. Read full review
50
Film.comErnest Hardy
It has to be noted that the use of music in this film is the worse in recent memory: maudlin, syrupy, and overwrought.
30
Dallas ObserverScott Kelton Jones
Notting Hill offers another example of moviemakers consoling themselves about how tough it is to be famous while congratulating themselves on how down-to-earth they really are. Read full review
30
Village VoiceDennis Lim
It is not, the filmmakers stress, a sequel to "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (which writer Richard Curtis was also responsible for), but it fits the latter-day Hollywood definition of the term -- same movie, only worse. Read full review
30
SalonStephanie Zacharek
It's an English movie doing its best to masquerade as the shallowest kind of Hollywood romantic comedy, as if somewhere along the way someone had made a calculated supposition that would be the only kind of comedy American audiences would buy. Read full review
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