SCOOTILLY-FROOTILY-DOO: ROM-COM HOLIDAY IS HOLLYWOOD FORMULA

Sometimes you just have to watch a movie you really have no interest in seeing to make someone you love happy. While I would be a bold-faced liar to say The Holiday was on my list of films that I was dying to see, I would also be lying if I said it was as bad as I feared.

Following two young professional women: film trailer editor Cameron Diaz and editorial writer Kate Winslet (I won’t bother to refer to the actors by their character names as it would be a moot point—they’re playing entirely to type and everything you really need to know about these women can be figured out by who they cast) as they, frustrated with the men in their lives, decide to swap houses/cars/lives for a holiday vacation. Winslet, amazed by fast LA living, befriends an elderly Hollwood writer(Eli Wallach) and heart-broken film composer Jack Black. Diaz, flighty and Cameron Diaz-y, finds herself frustrated with how quaint English life is (They drive on the wrong side of the road!) She also meets Winslet's womanizing brother, a charming Jude Law. The only other thing I need to say about the plot is that it’s a romantic comedy. Connect the dots.

The best way to view The Holiday is as a throwback to the screwball comedies of the forties and fifties. This becomes obvious halfway through the film when they start referencing ad nauseum films like His Girl Friday and the glories of old Hollywood. A subtle film this is not. Through this lens, the film’s far-fetched concept and predictable outcomes are forgivable. As a love letter to old Hollywood, it’s sweet if obvious.

Winslet is the type of actress that glows in any role, more than capable to carry a film like this. Diaz is a love-her-or-hate-her deal breaker, as is Jack Black (yup, he scats in this film, too).
Writer/Director Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, Something's Gotta Give) has made enough films in this genre to know her target audience---most of whom won't give a damn about the often atrocious eye-roll inducing dialogue. I envy them.
Those predisposed to like this kind of film will find little to object to and those (like this reviewer) ready to hate it, will begrudgingly find a handful of things to laugh at-the way Diaz’s film trailer occupation works her way into her life is particularly entertaining---and allows for an always welcome John Krasinski cameo.

Inoffensively predictable but not without its charms, you could do worse than The Holiday when it’s the female’s turn to pick the film of the night.

5/10