Female writers
know all about the secret innermost desires of a woman's heart. They know
what it is like to be in love with someone who doesn't realize they exist,
and also how love can just creep unexpectedly up on you. If there's one
thing to be said about writer/director Nancy Meyers, it is that she knows
how to emotionally connect with her female audience, and that may very
well be what makes The Holiday so special.
For the past
three years, Iris (Kate Winslet) has been in love with a man who only
thinks she exists for his own amusement. Self-centered Jasper (Rufus
Sewell) threw her over for another more advantageous match, but she still
buys him Christmas gifts, proof-reads his material for the magazine they
both work for, and pines over him from a distance, while her friends watch
on in repulsion. When the big Christmas party at the newspaper brings
about the announcement that Jasper has become engaged to his new woman,
Iris is thrown into a manic-depressive fit that causes her to search for a
way out of her life for a few weeks. She puts her charming country cottage
up for trade online and soon has a nibble from an American businesswoman.
Amanda
(Cameron Diaz) is the head of a marketing production company that makes
trailers for Hollywood films. Highly paid and something of a workaholic,
it comes as no real surprise to her when her boyfriend cheats on her,
getting him thrown out of the house and her desperate for a change. She
stumbles across Iris and agrees to exchange houses for two weeks. Iris
flies out in coach to Los Angeles and makes herself gloriously at home in
a mansion, where she soon strikes up a friendship with the sweet, old,
retired screenwriter down the block, and eventually befriends Miles (Jack
Black), an aspiring film composer. Amanda, in the meantime, meets Iris'
seemingly womanizing brother Graham (Jude Law) and it soon becomes
apparent that it's more than a one night stand.
The bottom
line about this movie is that I loved it. I have rarely loved a
movie as much as this one, because something about it resonates with my
soul. It has a very gritty amount of truth in it, as well as moments of
sweet humor and surprisingly human characteristics. Yes, it s funny but
it's also heartwarming. The characters felt very real to me, despite my disapproval
for some of their choices. Amanda and Graham's attitude about spontaneous
sex, for example, leaves a lot to be desired, but balancing out their more
trashy romance is that of Iris and Miles, who are the real treasures of
the film. The acting is beautiful, the writing is quite funny and
meaningful, and it has quite a special ending. One of the more subtle
contrasts was that Iris cannot stop crying whenever she's unhappy, whereas
Amanda is incapable of shedding a tear.
Unfortunately,
there are some content issues although most of them are verbal. There is a
spattering of British profanities amidst the humor, and one f-word. Amanda
and Graham have a one night stand, then sleep together several more times,
but we never actually see them at it. There is an uncomfortable amount of
dialogue between them over whether or not they should "have sex"
on their first meeting, which is rather awkward and absurd when you
consider how dangerous something like that is in real life. They are shown
in bed together, Amanda in her underclothes and him bare to the waist,
late in the film. It did rather soil their storyline and makes it
inappropriate for younger audiences. I would prefer a cleaner version, but
still it is quite a sweet story.
THE
HOLIDAY
Amanda
(Cameron Diaz) is the head of a marketing production company that makes
trailers for Hollywood films. Highly paid and something of a workaholic,
it comes as no real surprise to her when her boyfriend cheats on her,
getting him thrown out of the house and her desperate for a change. She
stumbles across Iris and agrees to exchange houses for two weeks. Iris
flies out in coach to Los Angeles and makes herself gloriously at home in
a mansion, where she soon strikes up a friendship with the sweet, old,
retired screenwriter down the block, and eventually befriends Miles (Jack
Black), an aspiring film composer. Amanda, in the meantime, meets Iris'
seemingly womanizing brother Graham (Jude Law) and it soon becomes
apparent that it's more than a one night stand.
Unfortunately,
there are some content issues although most of them are verbal. There is a
spattering of British profanities amidst the humor, and one f-word. Amanda
and Graham have a one night stand, then sleep together several more times,
but we never actually see them at it. There is an uncomfortable amount of
dialogue between them over whether or not they should "have sex"
on their first meeting, which is rather awkward and absurd when you
consider how dangerous something like that is in real life. They are shown
in bed together, Amanda in her underclothes and him bare to the waist,
late in the film. It did rather soil their storyline and makes it
inappropriate for younger audiences. I would prefer a cleaner version, but
still it is quite a sweet story. 