Review: The Holiday

Posted by: Tom Milroy  •  December 8, 2006 @ 11:59am

Filed under: Reviews

There are some things quite right with The Holiday and there are some things that are just wrong. For example: there's no reason for any romantic comedy to have a running time of more than 2 hours.

With visions of "chick flick" dancing in my head, I expected the movie to blow, and the first half did. I blame you, Cameron Diaz. You're not good. Going through a break-up with her boyfriend, played by Edward Burns, Cameron's character Amanda seems to be acting as if in a high school play.

Anyway, because she wants to leave everything behind, Amanda leaves Los Angeles for England. She does a "home exchange" with Iris, as played by Kate Winslet. Her on again/off again boyfriend just got engaged to someone else. Iris leaves for L.A. Game on.

The movie really starts coming alive with the appearance of Jack Black's character Miles. He is lovable as usual. One of the best parts of The Holiday was the all too brief appearance of Graham's kids. Graham is played by Jude Law, looking all charming and dashing and Hugh Grantish. He falls hard for Amanda and when those kids hit the screen, it's fabulous.

Is there a happy ending? Hey, this is Christmas. What do you think?

The movie is directed by Nancy Meyers, whose credits include Something's Gotta Give and What Women Want. Look for a cameo by Dustin Hoffman and a quick mention of Hans Zimmer, a composer who has done a ton of movie scores, including Driving Miss Daisy and The Holiday.