Photo by: Sony Pictures Entertainment
You can tell that Nancy Meyers has nostalgia for old Hollywood.
So much that she literally writes this into her new film that she wrote and directed, “The Holiday” – which may be the film’s downfall.
If Meyers kept with just one convention – like an old Hollywood motif – then it could be more successful.
But instead, Meyers combines elements of a number of chick flicks which she assumes will suit everyone.
As a result, the film runs a good half hour too long. Iris (Kate Winslet), a heart-wrenched London newspaper reporter, and Amanda (Cameron Diaz), an overworked movie preview producer in LA, have completely different personalities, but of course, share something in common – they are fed up with men.
Iris is in love with a former flame, Jasper (Rufus Sewell), who breaks her heart when she finds out he’s about to marry the woman he left her for.
But of course, to mirror other stories of co-dependent women who need to find themselves before letting go of the guy that they obviously shouldn’t be with, Iris goes to extremes to help him and be his friend.
Amanda, on the other hand, leaves her boyfriend after he cheats on her, even though she never experienced the kind of love with him that is needed in a real “movie romance.”
So both decide to take a break and visit an Internet house swapping site.
Amanda heads to Iris’ moderate and quiet Surrey, England cottage and Iris goes to Amanda’s LA house – whose living is noticeably more comfortable than Iris’s.
Their eagerness to leave their lives behind for two weeks is only strengthened when they both reassure one another that there are no men in their town.
So logically, enter Graham (Jude Law) and Miles (Jack Black).
Graham enters Amanda’s life on the same night she arrives, as he drunkenly introduces himself as Iris’s brother that crashes at her place when he gets drunk at a nearby pub.
Although the two engage in sex, Amanda is too independent and successful to let her guard down for a real relationship, evidenced by the fact that she isn’t able to cry (which Meyers writes into scenes about three times too many).
Meanwhile, the only man Iris develops a relationship with is Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach), an elderly retired Hollywood writer and producer, who just so happens to coach Iris on her life.
With his help, Iris realizes that she would be “a leading lady” in films instead of being put in a supporting role.
Although clichCB)d as this has the potential of being, Winslet’s charm and sincerity allows for a true touching (and thankfully platonic) relationship in the film.
The honest companionship and chemistry between the two adds another element in a typical chick flick genre.
The chemistry with Winslet extends to her interaction with Jack Black, but to what extend remains inconclusive.
Their quick friendship is complicated by a surprise visit from the still engaged Jasper who confesses that he still needs Iris, as well as Miles’ relationship with a beautiful actress.
But of course, everything works out in the end so that their relationship can turn romantic in the final few minutes.
And on the other end, Amanda leaves England (and Graham) only to realize that she can’t – and the tears that audiences only knew would drop dramatically from her face finally do.
There’s good material in “The Holiday,” but some of it just doesn’t necessarily mesh.
To appease audiences, Jack Black is in typical form as he loudly hums scores of every movie he sees in a movie rental store with Iris, or composes silly lyrics for a laugh (which, however, is still deserved).
The ending of the film too carelessly throws everything together.
The final scene, with the four of them reunited in England for a festive New Year’s, seems to convince audiences that everything will always work out in a chick flick, and almost aims to convince them that they’ve had an enjoyable time watching the film, too.
