A Holiday to Visit the Devil

Rating: 2/10 (1 May 2007)

I had no real expectations for this film. I've seen more than enough romantic comedies to recognize that this one would be an over-the-top, sickly sweet film. However, nothing could have prepared me for the horror that awaited me in the form of this film.
Picture an enormous chocolate cake filled with rich raspberry filling. Now, picture yourself getting ready to take a nibble when BAM! The entire cake is stuffed into your mouth, leaving you to try and digest it as you feel yourself getting sick. Now, picture this lasting over two hours. you've just experienced "The Holiday." This film has so many problems and so little value that I hardly know where to begin. The basic story is as follows.
In California, we have Amanda, played by Cameron Diaz. She's a wretched and obnoxious woman who scares away her boyfriend at the beginning of the film when she finds that he cheated on her. At this point, we're supposed to sympathize with her. This is impossible. Cameron Diaz overplays it so much that you half-expect her to explode five minutes into her introduction. On the other side of the globe, we have Iris. she's a sweet British reporter who is trying to escape from a past relationship with Jasper, a nasty man who abuses his position mercilessly. When Iris finds that Jasper is engaged, she immediately goes home and finds herself switching lives with Amanda for a little while. Sounds corny? Well, it is.
The rest of the film goes on slowly, miserably, and with side-plots galore. Amanda meets Graham (Jude Law), and the bad acting done for both characters makes their scenes vomit-worthy. Iris, however, who is played by Kate Winslet, has a genuine goodness about her. If we spent more time with her character and less with Cmaeron's, this movie could have been better. But, alas, it does not.
The film goes on for entirely too long, and is ridiculously decorated with strange and improbable pieces of dialogue. it's an awful film that I would not recommend to anyone except the most romanticized teen girls.