Christmas in Notting Hill

Synopsis: American woman falls for an English soccer star; she doesn’t know he’s famous.

Box offices love sequels. Their brand recognition brings in viewers. Think of Thor or Bridget Jones, both spawning three sequels. The Christmas movie industry has gotten into the strategy too, using rom-com nostalgia as the lure. Of course, they are careful to sidestep copyright/intellectual property.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days could become How to Lose a Guy During the 12 Days of Christmas. Or Runaway Bride could lead to A Christmas Runaway Bride. In that vein, we have Hallmark’s Christmas in Notting Hill. Don’t expect Julia Roberts or Hugh Grant. However, we do have two actors whose talents exceed the low-ish bar of holiday movies made on the fast track.

Sarah Ramos is Georgie Bright, a special education teacher in Indiana, USA. Ms. Ramos first distinguished herself in the series Parenthood as teen Haddie Braverman. She’s worked steadily since then, more recently in a story arc on The Bear. 

William Moseley is Graham Savoy, a star English soccer/football player who’s aging out of the game. Mr. Moseley broke out as Peter in The Chronicles of Narnia. He was the Pevensie brother who did not sell out his family for some candy– Turkish delight, I believe. He also had a four-season run as a prince in The Royals, starring Elizabeth Hurley.

Okay, so both of the leads are attractive, but Sarah Ramos looks like a normal human being, albeit a pretty one. I can imagine agents telling their women clients: Go ahead with the Botox and fillers unless you want to be in Hallmark movies.

In Christmases past the guys haven’t had to be ripped or have the faces of male models, but now the Netflix holiday movies are highlighting guys with chiseled abs and prom king looks. I’m looking at you Hot Frosty and The Merry Gentlemen. 

Christmas in Notting Hill is a Hallmark variety, so pretty G-rated. William Moseley is eye candy of the British boy next door variety. He bares his legs–he is supposed to be a soccer player after all– but he’s not made to shirtlessly toil on an addition to Westminster Abbey. Although, if there needed to be more room for the Children’s Christmas Choir to sing, I’m sure he’d do it because he is a really nice man.

Nothing against Indiana, but I do not want to spend a Christmas (movie) there. Georgia has a younger sister working in London, so that’s her temporary ticket to making merry in London for the holidays. Good for her. And us.

We like Georgia right away because she is kind and fun with her special needs students. When she tells the children where she’ll be over vacay, one little girl says, “Harry Styles lives there.” Indeed! But don’t get your hopes up, Harry isn’t in the movie. He’s gunning for the big studio lead roles.

While Georgia and her sister Lizzie (Joelle Bromidge) are catching up at her pricey-looking flat in Notting Hill, Graham is having heart-to-hearts with his physical therapist and manager after a knee injury during a game. The manager sighs, “You’re not twenty-five anymore.” He’s advised to enjoy his Christmas; before the death of his career, goes unsaid, but understood. Still, not so bad as getting axed just before a pension.

As we learned in Julia Roberts’ hit Notting Hill, the neighborhood is full of charming shops and high-end flea market stands. Graham can never get away from being a soccer star what with passersby fanning out wherever he goes. But even his mother, Lynne (Kate O’Toole), pigeonholes him into a soccer star identity. She pimps him out with a stall that sells his merch, even trotting him out to impress fans when he stops by to say ‘hi.’

Georgia is at the Notting Hill market shopping with her sister, when the sister’s boss calls and demands she comes into work. She works at a museum; it can probably wait. Georgia is perfect, so she tells sis to do whatever she needs to, including not being around at all while she’s visiting.

Graham, supposedly a top athlete, bumbles into Georgia and spills coffee all over her. He says ‘sorry’ a million times because he is English and then tells her she can cleanup at his parents’ place which is nearby. Stranger Danger Alert, Georgia! Just because he is pretty and has parents does not mean he is not a murderer. For all we know, women with American accents could be his target.

Fortunately, this is a Hallmark movie, not an M. Night Shyamalan film, so Graham will not be a killer, and Georgia will be perfectly safe sponging coffee off her sweater/jumper whilst they talk about how good looking, yet relatable they both are. And wouldn’t it be great if they fell in love at Christmas time? Well, that’s the subtext, anyway.

Christmas is a time of good cheer, but a rom-com needs to manufacture a conflict between the couple, even though we know they are meant for each other. Often, the conflict is two strong-willed people coming together, as in the recent Glen Powell & Sydney Sweeney vehicle, Anyone but You. Hopefully they will have a holiday sequel, inevitably titled Christmas with Anyone but You.

Georgia and Graham are too nice and humble to have a personality conflict. Instead, Georgia gets mad at him because he didn’t confess to her that he is a star soccer player. Okay, a surprise to find out that the person you just started dating overseas is famous in their country, but a reason to get all huffy? No.

Still, Georgia and Graham will find ways back to each other at Notting Hill cafes and at something called a Christmas pantomime, which looks to me like a comic drag show. Moving the plot along are other actors in the must-be-lovers story: Graham’s younger brother, finance guy Henry (Peter Rothwell), their cheeky but wise mum and Georgia & Lizzie’s dad Michael (Conor Mullen) flying in from Indiana. He’s a dad-dork of the American Midwest variety; insisting on wearing embarrassing attire and finding London an inexplicable hoot.

I was more interested in taking in the holiday finery in London than worrying about Graham’s career; he doesn’t even limp, so I forgot he’s supposed to be injured. Georgia also has a career change in mind. She’s up for a grad school scholarship in Indiana and also applied to be a special education teacher who travels the globe. I think the latter program is just a figment of someone’s imagination. How is a special ed teacher who only speaks English supposed to hop from job to job working with students all over the globe? Well, I guess if anyone can make it work, it’s perfect Georgia. Maybe she could bring Graham with her, and he could coach schoolchildren in soccer.

And to think, it all started in Notting Hill with spilled coffee. Happy Christmas!

Movie Loon Movie Review Shortcut:

Grade:   B

Cut to the Chase:  A nice bit of holiday frippery set in London. Good lead actors, decent story.

Humor Highlight:  Georgia is perfect, but lets a little snark slip, when she tells her younger sister that she had too many responsibilities to flit off to a foreign country when she was her age.