The Holiday (2006) Columbia/Comedy-Drama RT: 138 minutes Rated PG-13 (sexual content and some strong language) Director: Nancy Meyers Screenplay: Nancy Meyers Music: Hans Zimmer Cinematography: Dean Cundey Release date: December 8, 2006 (US) Cast: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Edward Burns, Rufus Sewell, Miffy Englefield, Emma Pritchard, Sarah Parish, Shannyn Sossamon, Bill Macy, Shelley Berman, Kathryn Hahn, John Krasinski. Box Office: $63M (US)/$205.8M (World)
Rating: ****
I can’t believe I didn’t see The Holiday at the cinema. It would have been the perfect holiday date movie with my wife-to-be. Instead, we saw Blood Diamond. Great movie, but it’s hardly a romantic time at the movies. Hey, even Movie Guy gets it wrong on occasion.
If you love the star-studded Christmas rom-com comedy Love Actually (which I do), then you should check out The Holiday, an absolutely charmer of a film from writer-director Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give). While it’s not an all-star affair, it features amazing performances from its four leads and a wonderful supporting one from Eli Wallach (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).
The premise has two ladies with romantic woes, one from the US and the other from the UK, switching homes for the Christmas holiday. Newspaper reporter Iris (Winslet, Titanic) can’t get her ex Jasper (Sewell, A Knight’s Tale) out of her mind or her life. Despite him cheating on her and never treating her right, she’s still in love with the guy. She’s devastated when he announces his engagement at the office Christmas party. Meanwhile in L.A., movie trailer producer Amanda (Diaz, My Best Friend’s Wedding) dumps her boyfriend Ethan (Burns, 15 Minutes) after he cheats on her. It’s hard to say how devastated she is as she hasn’t cried since she was a teenager.
Looking for an immediate change of scenery, Amanda finds Iris’ cottage in Surrey on a home swap website. She contacts Iris and the two make arrangements to stay in each other’s homes for the next two weeks starting the next day. It’s going to be a holiday to remember for both of them.
It isn’t easy at first for Amanda. She’s put off by the quiet and isolation of the English countryside. She considers returning to L.A., but changes her mind when she meets Iris’ charming brother Graham (Law, The Talented Mr. Ripley). He shows up drunk at the cottage late one night looking for a place to crash. Amanda lets him in and before you know it, they sleep together. She doesn’t want to fall in love with him, especially since she’ll be leaving in less than two weeks, but the heart wants what the heart wants.
Iris loves her temporary news digs in the States, a spacious house with a swimming pool and home entertainment system to die for. She befriends her elderly neighbor Arthur (Wallach), a retired screenwriter from the Golden Age of Hollywood. After hearing her story, he recommends a list of old movies featuring strong female characters. He encourages her to be “the leading lady of her own life”. After three years of seeing a therapist, it’s the best advice she’s ever received. In addition, Iris grows close to Miles (Black, School of Rock), a film composer with romantic troubles of his own. He’s dating an actress (Sossamon, A Knight’s Tale) who’s not as into him as he is her.
As is standard for the genre, various complications rear their heads. Amanda suspects Graham of being a womanizer with him taking calls from other women, presumably other lovers. Naturally, she’s wrong. The truth is something completely different and completely unexpected, but something that lends a sweetly tragic element to Graham’s character. Iris wants to move forward with her life, one without Jasper, but can’t break free from his spell even with an ocean between them. She needs to find her leading lady strength and tap into it.
There’s a nice subplot about Arthur’s reluctance to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screenwriter’s Guild. They want to throw a lavish black-tie ceremony in his honor, but he doesn’t want to participate because of his frail health. It’s a good thing Iris is there to help the sweet old man through his crisis. That leads to one of my favorite aspects of The Holiday. There are a lot of references to the film industry and various celebrities. I can’t think of another movie that references Irene Dunne, Vangelis and Ennio Morricone. There’s a scene at a Blockbuster Video featuring a hilarious surprise cameo by a famous actor. At various points, a voiceover from Hal Douglas relates significant events in Amanda’s narrative. You might not know the name, but you definitely know the voice. You’ve heard it in thousands of movie trailers and TV commercials.
The Holiday is a rom-com through and through, but it also incorporates fish out of water tropes with its female protagonists trying to adjust to different cultures. Amanda trying to get the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road is a riot. Iris can’t believe the luxurious surroundings in Amanda’s house. With the press of a button, she can lower panels over the bedroom windows and block out every bit of light. Then there’s the drama. The Holiday centers on good people who come to realize they deserve better than crummy relationships that only make them unhappy. Iris needs a man who appreciates her. Amanda must learn how to feel again if she wants a relationship that works.
The four leads have never been so appealing as they are in The Holiday. They all play decent characters, Law in particular. His meet-cute with Amanda might have been unorthodox with them all over each other within minutes of meeting. However, he’s respectful enough to not take advantage of her later after a night of heavy drinking at the pub. He stays over to make sure she’s okay. Miles is a good guy too. We don’t get to see this sweet, sedate side of Black too often. It’s nice how he and Winslet’s character commiserate over being on the wrong side of unrequited love. Winslet and Diaz are simply wonderful. The real standout, however, is 91YO Wallach. His character is the wise old man we all want as a friend and wingman.
Here’s the bottom line. The Holiday is a delight from start to finish. It’s a legit feel-good movie. Meyers knows her way around one of those with titles like Father of the Bride (1991), Irreconcilable Differences (1984) and Baby Boom (1987). I can’t believe that I waited so long to sit down and watch it. I really should have seen this at the movies. Well, that’s what streaming is for, right? I can’t think of a better way to spend the holiday than watching The Holiday with somebody special.
