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| Four beloved stars look lovingly at one another on this simple poster for Nancy Meyers' The Holiday |
Two women, one in England, the other in Los Angeles, both could use some distance to their lives for a while, and so they decide online to swap homes during Christmas for a couple of weeks.
The Holiday is written and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Nancy Meyers (The Parent Trap (1998)).
It often feels as if it must be the most ridiculous film ever, and at its thickest it even made me nauseous. Luckily it does grow more appetizing after a while.
Kate Winslet (Enigma (2001)), - who on the surface incites regret in a part that seems a good deal under her abilities, - and Cameron Diaz (The Invisible Circus (2001)), - who one must also pity some in a role that's so formulaic, 'it' arrives with a sleep mask, tripping around on high heels, and literally runs through the snowy landscape of Great Britain two weeks later, (so we really get her development it seems ...), - both of them play women with self-confidence problems, who also both refuse to stop yapping. Scene after scene is far longer than necessary, so that The Holiday almost feels like two romcoms slapped together to make one giant romcom whopper.
This is likely Meyers' most negligible film, which utilizes ploys and ideas that have worked before but which seems gimmicky here, but it is redeemed to some degree by its stars: Diaz and Jude Law (The Nest (2020)) are saucy and good-looking together; Jack Black (The D Train (2015)) is good and luckily even gets a chance to sing a bit; and Eli Wallach (The Pirate (1978, TV movie)) is charming and splendid as a retired screenwriter.
Related posts:
Nancy Meyers: It's Complicated (2009) - Meyers' delightful romcom star vehicle
2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Something's Gotta Give (2003) - Meyers, Jack & Diane are a killer combo
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 85 mil. $
Box office: 205.8 mil. $
= Minor flop (returned 2.42 times its cost)
[The Holiday premiered 29 November (New York) and runs 136 minutes. Meyers reportedly wrote the screenplay with the four stars in mind for the parts. Shooting took place from January - June 2006 in England, including in London, and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Apocalypto and holdover hit Happy Feet, to a 12.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5), grossing 63.2 mil. $ (30.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 23.9 mil. $ (11.6 %) and Germany with 16.1 mil. $ (7.8 %). The-numbers.com estimate that the film additionally made in excess of 82.8 mil. $ on DVD sales in North America alone. Meyers returned with It's Complicated (2009). Winslet returned with a voice performance in Le Renard et l'Enfant (2007) and physically in The Reader (2008); Diaz with voice performances in Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek the Halls (2007, TV short) and physically in What Happens in Vegas (2008); Law in My Blueberry Nights (2007); and Black in The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show (2007, TV-series), Exposure (2007, TV-series) and theatrically in Margot at the Wedding (2007). The Holiday is rotten at 51 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Holiday?
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