Bloated sweetness and predictability

Rating: 5/10 (7 February 2007)

"The Holiday" is a contrived romantic comedy from from writer/director Nancy Meyers marked by an inability to resist an excessive gratification of whims that leaves a cloying and puffy feeling afterwards. And while the cast boasts of Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black in the leads, the film oddly lacks enough charm to be either truly romantic or funny.
Amanda (Diaz) is a movie advertiser from Hollywood while Iris (Winslet) is a journalist from Surrey, England. Both are reeling from post-breakup aches so they find each other online and do a house swap for the holidays. It ultimately sets the stage for Amanda to meet Iris' brother Graham (Law), while Iris herself befriends a screenwriter Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach) and film composer Miles (Black) during her healing process.
Running for a little over two hours, the film does feel too long. Which wouldn't matter if it justified its length with content. Here, the plot is devoid of surprises and the dichotomy of the film makes for an uneven experience.
The arc on Diaz and Law is uncomfortably gooey and borderline absurd, which while benefits from a more dynamic progression of the story, suffers from failure to evoke sympathy of the character's plights (why of course I forgot, she can't cry!) and gawky editing.
It's a stark contrast to the warm and tender feeling of Iris' half of the narrative. But Winslet and Black are mismatched. Even if a straitjacketed Black has a more subdued acting here, he comes off as bland and the chemistry between him and Winslet is nonexistent to the point that it's easier to root for her and Arthur. Pity, too, that Meyers seem more interested in Amanda and Graham as they are given more screen time that the events in LA are reduced to mere fillers.
"The Holiday" is apparently a two-in-one romantic comedy which could have worked better had Meyers focused on a single storyline rather than jumping across the Atlantic Ocean every now and then. As it is, this one feels drawn out, with only a few good moments scattered somewhere in between, and may be even less enjoyable for the estrogen-challenged.