The Holiday review.

The Holiday.
Starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black.
Source

I feel as though I need a holiday after watching this.

First off, I know, I know. It's a film with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Kate Winslet in it. The Antichrist trinity of acting. I did think about this beforehand but then my stingy-student instinct kicked in and I thought if I were going to be paying £5.50 to watch a film, I might as well watch one that is 135 minutes long rather than 108 minutes....it is semi logical (No, 'not wasting money on outings you can't afford' was not an option).


Synopsis
Nancy Myers, director of other rom-coms such as What Women Want and Some thing's Gotta Give once again takes the helm of 2006's ultimate chick flick. Two woman, both unlucky in love, trade houses for the Christmas break, and find that travelling across the world and living in someone else's house can also change your life.....

Iris (Kate Winslet) is in love with a colleague, but the unrequited love is engaged to someone else. Across the globe Amanda (Cameron Diaz) is in love with herself, and as a result her live-in-lover has been unfaithful. Whilst searching the internet Amanda impulsively decides that she needs a break. Where is better than sunny LA? A snow covered English countryside, of course. The two women then move into each other's houses. Iris to Amanda's luxurious LA mansion. Amanda into Iris' quaint Surrey cottage. And from there they both learn that a change in address can also be a change for the soul.

Review
If you like Love Actually, you'll love this. Well, no. If you like Love Actually, this is the kind of film you'd go to see, but it's nowhere near as entertaining.

The film is drenched in saccharine movie-esque lessons in love and life. It's awkward, and embarrassing from the word go. When a film starts spewing dialogue about Shakespeare, 'Corny' and unrequited love in the first few minutes, it's probably best to leave and save your sanity.

As you would expect from a film about love set in LA there are the constant film references. This comes in the form of Albert Abbott. A Hollywood legend script writer, who harps on about the 'good old days of Hollywood'. Something this film desperately attempts to be apart of. It mocks the modern Hollywood's witlessness via Diaz's movie trailer company and the booming narrative of her inner thoughts in the style of American movie previews. 'It's looks like it's actually good! We're amazing!' She proclaims to her colleagues after finishing one of her trailers. Funny, I could say the same about this film.

It's a Christmas film with sporadic humour and beautiful people, however it has pretensions of being more. To my shock the stand out player was none other than Jude Law. Playing the role of Kate Winslet brother, Graham, he turns up drunk at Iris' home, and then has sex with Amanda. In Iris' bed. Many more nauseating moments happen between the two including heart to hearts about parents and broken homes, of course, what is a Christmas film without beautiful people with domestic issues?!

Across the pond Jack Black and Kate Winslet are showing us how little chemistry they have, by drinking wine, renting DVDs and singing songs in the most uncomfortable way possible. Uncomfortable fo the audience, that is. Black looks as though he's been straitjacketed and is much more suited to films like School of Rock and Orange County.

Miss it?
If you don't enjoy the feeling of wanting to crawl into your own skin and die. Winslet's storyline lacks passions and in most scenes with Jack Black it's just pure awkward.

Watch it?
If not only to laugh at the fact that it snows in Surrey every day, The daily Telegraph has very aesthetically pleasing journalists, you can chat online to complete strangers and swap houses without any repercussions and you can just waltz off to the other side of the world without any warning or notice to your bosses.

Best scene?
The most amusing was a telephone scene between Winslet, Diaz and Law in which Winslets hasn't figured out how to use a phone and continues to yell at Diaz about her brother having sex with the woman who's living her house. It sparked a few laughs and was, for that moment, like the film The holiday wants to be: Bridget Jones' Diary.

Conclusion?
A Christmas rom-com. Nothing more. Nothing less. There are some genuinely nice scenes, however, you forget them as soon as you leave the cinema.