Well written and well made romance film that although sometimes forces its humour, definitely holds out.

Rating: 7/10 (9 August 2007)

Despite being another 'rom-com', I got the feeling The Holiday didn't need to go down such a route in order to prove itself. It's a typical, all star cast, character relations drama that relies on easy humour thanks mainly to the fact Jack Black is in it but also allows a group of four characters in two different countries to bond in a satisfactory and sometimes meaningful manner.
What The Holiday does to try and draw you in is that it sets up two women called Amanda (Diaz) and Iris (Winslet) in two very different situations. One is just coming out of a relationship after their boyfriend Ethan (An unfortunately underused Edward Burns) had an affair with his secretary and the other is coming to terms with a long time love, who never quite returned the same feelings, that is getting married - one woman is American and the other is British; so this gives at least the ladies of the audience two people to latch onto and relate to; pick your situation that you might have found yourself in and let it enthral you. For me, I related to Iris more but for reasons more to do with the fact I found her to be far more tolerable than Amanda.
Regarding what I said in the opening paragraph, I feel the film didn't need to use some of the humour it did. I respect the fact that Amanda is working in the film trailer business but to have her life's situation narrated to her and more frustratingly; to us, on more than one occasion was tiresome and just stuck out in what was otherwise quite a charming and funny film. Twinned with this, most of the humour that revolved around Amanda wasn't that good and just felt gimmicky. These also include things like the whole 'trying to cry' scenario and the 'funny' online conversation she has with Iris, especially the way she gushes at the fact there are 'zilch' men in and around the area she lives yet contradicts herself a few hours into the visit.
Onto the men of the film and Jude Law's Graham and Jack Black's Miles provide the intended laughs and love interest. Needless to say; both do well as both are so different when compared to one another and of course since we know them as actors, both have done very different films in the past to one another. Graham's introduction comes first and basically consists of him stumbling into a male wet dream. He knocks on the door expecting to see his sister let him stay the night after some heavy drinking but instead finds a blonde American woman who asks him to bed within about five minutes. So there he is: in a remote English cottage with heavy snowfall outside and all around him whilst a girl he barely knows comes onto him  although a complete contradiction of what we thought Amanda's character was, it still acted as a humorous introduction to Graham's character and he handled the situation well.
What scrap of extreme credibility The Holiday does have comes in the form of Arthur; played by Eli Wallach, an old film writer from the classical Hollywood period. He not only acts as the anchor in terms of respectability but also manages to analyse the film as it happens. 'You're the star', he tells Iris regarding her lost love situation and I had to agree since Amanda was becoming too much of a cartoon. Each woman's story is cut back and forth to in a very pleasing and satisfying manner, not to mention well paced as certain events and twists become apparent. Iris' friendship with Arthur and Miles' own heartache as even they grow closer works well since we are lead to care for these people prior to the final third through good film-making. Even tiny things such as the scene involving Amanda, Graham and the 'other person at Graham's house' work well and are highly effective since it's near the end and we care.
Although not normally one to recommend nor commend films like this, I found The Holiday rather enjoyable even if it had a few things I didn't like but it's possible to ignore these things as other themes and conventions work with other character to create something much more memorable.