Film Review The Holiday Bio

Film Review: The Holiday

Friday, December 22, 2006 - As a writer, I enjoy a well-developed storyline and well-developed characters, and for some reason writers always make the character of a writer the most faceted. And as a hopeless romantic, romantic comedies move me much more than hardcore drama. So when a romantic comedy, such as The Holiday, about a group of writers and people working in the movie industry, is released, it's a must-see for me.

The Holiday revolves around two women, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, who are suffering from unrequited love, with Diaz just breaking up with her live-in boyfriend who was caught cheating, and Winslet's ex getting engaged and not telling her. Diaz' character, a movie trailer editor, also suffers from esophagial spasms and not being able to shed a tear for any reason. Winslet, a newspaper writer responsible for engagement, wedding, and anniversary announcements, just seems to be suffering period.

With both of these women deciding they need a change of venue in order to not feel so alone over the holidays, they agree to a house exchange for two weeks, Diaz going to Winslet's quaint cottage in England, and Winslet going to Diaz' palatial home in Los Angeles. Diaz encounters quite the culture shock, and decides it was a mistake to go to a strange place in order to not feel so alone. That is, until Winslet's brother, Jude Law, crashes her pity party during a drunken escapade. Neither one of them are good at relationships, but can't seem to do what they know is best, and stay away from each other.

Winslet can't believe her good fortune of her housing switch, as she runs from room to room, enjoying her new temporary digs. Once she finally figures out how to answer the intercom at the gate, she meets Jack Black, who's there to pick up some of the things belonging to Diaz' ex. While they chat, the strong Santa Ana winds are blowing, and Black explains the legend behind the winds, that anything can happen. Winslet also creates a friendship with a Hollywood legend, played by Eli Wallach, who is able in a manner of hours to sum up Winslet's problem in one sentence. "You are a leading lady, but you are acting like a best friend.

All of the characters are extremely likable and well-developed. I've yet to see a movie with Diaz where I don't like her. She just has a cute, bouncy personality, which leads easily into this character. Even when she's brooding and pissy, she's still likable. She walks through the grocery store, shopping, and chugging from a bottle of wine, then gets drunk by herself in the cottage, dancing to The Killers' Mr. Brightside. Being a movie trailer editor, every time her life gets ahead of her, she sees it played back as if she is the star of one of her own trailers. Even though the girl can't shed a tear, it doesn't matter, as I shed enough during the movie for the both of us.

Having not been very familiar with Winslet's work, I was starting with a clean slate. She's not normally known for light comedies, yet she carries it off very well, especially in this role as the poor put-upon Englishwoman, whose ex keeps leading her on mercilessly. She wakes up her first morning in L.A., and lays in the king size bed playing air guitar with the pillow ... until she gets a phone call from her ex, saying that he misses her. Yet, it's only because he wants her to edit some pages of his novel.

I don't know if it was the lighting or the extreme close-ups on Jude Law, but I was positively melting every time he was on the screen. Normally, I'm not drawn to him this way. Even the times he was being a complete cad, he was still irresistible. I didn't blame Diaz for one minute for falling for him. The oddest casting, though, was Jack Black as the other romantic lead. All I could think of was the promotions I've seen him doing for Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny. Yet, by the end of the movie I was pleading with him to realize what a great gal Winslet was. Who would have guessed that he could pull off the sincere sensitive artist type role? Maybe it's that Santa Ana winds thing.

Perhaps Black was in the movie to try and erase the thought that this was absolutely a chick flick. He couldn't toughen it up that much, though, as evidenced by the fact I watched the movie in a theatre with seven other women, and not a single man was in attendance, unless you include the theatre worker that came in waiting to pick up the garbage towards the end of the movie.

Despite the fact I was watching alone, I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions, along with the other women. The Holiday would be a great movie to curl up on the couch to, and watch on a chilly Saturday afternoon, but you might not want to wait that long for it to get to your local Blockbuster.

Yuddy Score: Yud




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