An all-star cast can't save this predictable romantic farce

Rating: 3/10 (24 December 2006)

If you like movies that are predictable, cliché-ridden and rely on an all star cast to be a success, then The Holiday will interest you.
The Holiday stars Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, Kate Winslet and Jude Law. One can only wonder what these Hollywood stars were thinking when they agreed to be in this romantic farce. Nancy Meyers did write the film with all these actors in mind but it doesn't mean that they had to go ahead and make fools of themselves by starring in this.
The Holiday is about two women. Amanda lives in LA. She has a big house and owns a movie advertising company. Her life falls apart when she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Fed up with her life, Amanda finds a home exchange website and decides to swap homes with a woman named Iris who lives in London. Iris' life also happens to be falling apart when the man that she is in love with gets engaged and doesn't tell her.
When the two women switch lives, they meet men who they fall for and a roller-coaster of every romantic comedy cliché ensues.
Men should stay as far away as possible from this film even if it does star Cameron Diaz, and women should steer clear too. Who wants to go see a movie about two women who mope around all day complaining about how terrible their lives are when there are people out there who are far worse off then they are? I suppose Nancy Meyers needed Jack Black for the comedy element but he was seriously out of place in this rubbish.
The film is overly long too. It is just over two hours.
Rather watch something else, seriously, there's far better than this mess.