I hate being a cynic when it comes to sweet, innocent motion pictures like this, beloved by many for over fifty years, but I flat-out didn’t find much to love in Roman Holiday. The most pleasure comes in the form of watching Audrey Hepburn, in her film debut, as she’s more beautiful and radiant than ever. But more often than that, I found myself a little bit bored by the scenes on-screen. William Wyler directed the film, but it was my friend and roommate William Hyler who got me through it. His running commentary on the movie still cracks me up weeks later after taking place. What’s not to make fun of? While Gregory Peck is admirable as an actor, he feels completely out of place here. He’s not what I would call the most charismatic romantic lead, especially paired with Hepburn, who looks young enough to be his daughter. For all the people who love the movie, please answer me this. Why does Audrey Hepburn spend so much time in the beginning asleep? She works hard to escape her privileged life, all to go to bed. A little odd, if you ask me. There are small joys to the movie, brief scenes that work on their own (including a chase scene on a motorcyle), and an ending that puts a nice capper on the events, but I find it odd this film has any kind of significant following at all. My knowledge in Hepburn cinema being very little, I took a look at Sabrina (1954) just a couple nights later and found almost every aspect about it fresher and more interesting. Roman Holiday is fine for what it is, but considering its status as a classic, and considering it’s the winner of three Academy Awards (including an inexplicable statuette for Hepburn herself), it was a bit of a letdown.