The Holiday 2006 - A Brief Review

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2006)

Well, anyone can tell you what this film is about (2 30+ year old women - one in US, one in UK - swap houses for two weeks and find love in their respective new vacancy), so here are some fun facts about the film you won't find so easily:
1. The movie is not only a romantic comedy, but also a movie about making movies. Be prepared for many inside Hollywood jokes, including surprise cameos by Lindsay Lohan, Dustin Hoffman and others. 2. It' the only movie you'll ever find who shows you (brief) images of the DVD covers of classics such as Gone With the Wind and Jaws, and then show you a library who has the horrific Gigli in it. 3. Watch out for that boom mike that comes in the most inadequate scenes. 4. Two much product placement: I wonder how much Google, Universal Studios, that damn Blueberry palm computer and others put into this thing.
The Holiday's negative points (IMO):
1. Lack of editing: the film has at least 30 minutes that could have been easily removed whilst keeping the plot intact. Some of the scenes take way too much screen time (the film clocks at over 2 hours - way above average for a romantic comedy). 2. Lack of Jack Black: the guy is supposedly one of the main characters but hardly has any screen time, and becomes an important player in the plot only towards the end. 3. Lack of credibility: when you have Jude Law and Cameron Diaz together with two little girls in one scene, and the girls "steal" the show from the stars, you know something is wrong. Black and Winslet, on the other hand, were more exciting on screen for me. Black actually shines more than ever in his rather small part, and is cute as a button. 4. Lack of continuinity: the UK and the US plot don't always mush together like the director might have intended originally, and seem like two entirely different films occasionally.
Most of all, remember: this is supposed to be light Christmas fluff, so handle it with the right thing in mind. If you ignore all the negaive points I mentioned and simply enjoy the film, you'll be having a blast.