A
film review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net.
The Holiday is no vacation.
Sloppy writing, an overindulgent editor, and poor casting have taken an
intriguing premise and transformed it into an uneven mess. The movie follows
the lives of two women at Christmastime who trade houses. One story, while
neither surprising nor groundbreaking, is moderately entertaining. The other
feels like filler and ends up consuming about 45 minutes of the film's bloated
135-minute running time. The theory, I suppose, is that viewers get two
romances for the price of one. In reality, one isn't always the loneliest
number - sometimes it's the best fit.
With
films like What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give, [and more
recently It’s Complicated (2009) and The Intern (2015)] director Nancy Meyers has established herself as
a filmmaker who aims squarely at the adult female demographic. In the past,
however, her films have possessed a broad enough entertainment base to appeal
to members of both sexes. The Holiday,
however, is an inferior product. Sure, it addresses some interesting female
issues, but it's way too long and plodding, the dialogue is a string of
clichés, and the term overly familiar
would be a kind way to describe the narrative. Thirty minutes into the movie
(it takes that long to wade through the setup and figure out who all the
characters are), you know with absolute certainty how things are going to end.
Although
the premise is simple, it takes forever to get going. The movie spins its
wheels for a half-hour establishing that British newspaper writer Iris (Kate Winslet) has been struck down with
a bad case of unrequited love and that American movie marketer Amanda (Cameron Diaz) has lost part of her
soul. Both need to get away for Christmas so, via a house-swap site on the
Internet, they agree to switch domiciles for two weeks. Iris gets a swanky
Beverly Hills pad, complete with a pool and eccentric neighbors like composer
Miles (Jack Black) and Hollywood
writing legend Arthur Abbott (Eli
Wallach). Amanda ends up with a picturesque Surrey cottage whose sole
benefit is a nighttime visit by Iris' drunk brother, Graham (Jude Law). Of course, Iris is paired
with Miles and Amanda hooks up with Graham.
The
movie is free of anything resembling a surprise, which would be okay if the
romances were appealing enough to captivate an audience. After all, some of the
best romantic comedies are entirely predictable. Unfortunately, there are
issues in The Holiday. The Cameron
Diaz/Jude Law pairing is fine. There's a light connection between these two and
we don't mind watching them fall in love while pretending they're not.
Unfortunately, Kate Winslet doesn't fare as well. Her story appears to have
been included as an afterthought. It lacks direction and cohesion. Jack Black
is a disaster as a leading man; one can't take him seriously in a romance, and
he includes off-the-wall moments of Black
humor (humming theme songs at the top of his lungs in a video store) that
take him completely out of character. As for Winslet's love affair, suffice it
to say there's more chemistry between her and Eli Wallach than between her and
Black. Viewers end up hoping for a May/December romance if only to spare her
from having to melt into Black's embrace.
One
of the biggest flaws with the movie is its failed attempt to interweave Iris'
story with Amanda's. For those who aren't overly cynical, the latter tale
exhibits a certain level of low-key magic. We care about the characters and
would like to see them end up together. However, the constant cuts to Iris' Los
Angeles experiences leave us stranded in a plot we couldn't care less about.
Much as I like Winslet (and her acting in this film is of the highest caliber),
she is let down by the writing here. Meyers is evidently a lot more interested
in Amanda than Iris, and it shows in the screenplay. (Maybe this has something
to do with identifying with Amanda, who is escaping from the Hollywood
rat-race.)
The Holiday doesn't contain a lot
of laugh-out-loud moments, although there is a hilarious sequence in which Iris
conducts a three-way call (via call waiting) with Amanda and Graham. Jack
Black's antics, although kept mostly in check, may cause a few of his fans to
giggle, but I found them to be both out of place and unfunny. At this stage of
his career, Black does not have the acting chops to play a straight role as his
occasional slips into broad comedy prove. One can't help wonder how much more
compelling Iris' story might have been with a different male lead.
The
best that can be said about The Holiday
is that it's the best of 2006's crop of Christmas-themed movies, but that's not
high praise considering that the other contenders are The Santa Clause 3 and Deck
the Halls. There are some good ideas here and some worthwhile scenes, but
Meyers can't figure out how to streamline her chick-flick version of The Prince and the Pauper and the result
is frustrating (because it could have been better) and annoying (because it
isn't). For the most part, women will like The
Holiday better than men, but it's hard to imagine anyone thinking of this
as more than a romantic misfire. [Berardinelli’s rating: ** out of 4 stars]
Labels: christmas, comedy, cross-cultural, romance
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