Holiday (2006)

"...some incisive humor, a few poignant moments and enjoyable scenarios...  Claudia Puig, USA Today
"A lavishly overstuffed gift basket of a movie.  Justin Chang, Variety
"...likable. Really likable, in fact.  M.E. Russell, Portland Oregonian

Editor's Note The Brits and the Yanks join forces in this romantic Christmas comedy set in England and L.A. Kate Winslet is a British journalist caught in a cycle of unrequited love with her coworker, Jasper (Rufus Sewell). Jasper does his best to lead her on, and when he announces his engagement to another woman in the office, Winslet is crushed. Meanwhile, across the pond, Cameron Diaz is a high-strung movie-trailer editor who has just ended her relationship with Ethan (Edward Burns) after he accuses her of being emotionally unavailable. And, oh yes, he has sort of been sleeping with his receptionist. Brokenhearted, Diaz and Winslet make contact through a vacation website and agree to swap homes for two weeks to escape their disastrous personal lives. Winslet takes off for Diaz's lavish L.A. pad, while Diaz arrives at Winslet's picturesque cottage right outside London. When Winslet's brother Graham (Jude Law) knocks at the door one night looking for his sister, he instead encounters Diaz, and sparks soon fly--despite the fact that they both know she won't be in town for long. Winslet, for her part, is busy mending her heart in sunny California, befriending Diaz's elderly neighbor, and making the acquaintance of film composer Miles (Jack Black). But her healing is abruptly interrupted when Jasper suddenly appears on her doorstep, having flown halfway round the world to make sure he still has her under his spell. Miles apart, Winslet and Diaz find themselves at the crux of all rom-com crises: how to follow your heart, while still being true to yourself. While THE HOLIDAY's whimsical plot can at times feels stretched thinner than Diaz's legs, fans of the genre will no doubt find Winslet's thespian charms, Law's dimples, and the high-fashion wardrobes quite enough to give them their chick-flick fix.

	Cameron Diaz
	Edward Burns
	Eli Wallach
	Jack Black
	Jude Law
	Kate Winslet
	Rufus Sewell
	Shannyn Sossamon
	Dan Webster - Art Director
	Dean Cundey - Cinematographer
	Hans Zimmer - Original Music By
	Joe Hutshing - Editor
	Nancy Meyers - Director
	Nancy Meyers - Writer
	Nancy Meyers - Producer
	Suzanne McNeill Farwell - Executive Producer

Entertainment Weekly
"The dialogue has a perky synthetic sheen....Meyers brings out the best in her actors..." -- Grade: B- 12/15/2006 p.67

New York Times
"Ms. Winslet is always a welcome screen presence....Ms. Meyers always has something to give." 12/08/2006 p.E12

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[With] Jack Black's uncommonly restrained turn as Kate's new beau, the TENACIOUS D star toning down his usual hysterics to charming, winning and surprisingly touching effect." 02/01/2007 p.45

Sight and Sound
"[W]ith a likeable cast and credible romantic unions, it still has the power to move us..." 02/01/2007 p.58

Empire
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here is some real charm along the way..." 12/01/2007 p.224

ReelViews 6 of 10
The Holiday is no vacation. Sloppy writing, an overindulgent editor, and poor casting have taken an intriguing premise and transformed it into an uneven mess. The movie follows the lives of two women at Christmastime who trade houses. One story, while neither surprising nor groundbreaking, is moderately entertaining. The other feels like filler and ends up consuming about 45 minutes of the film's bloated 135-minute running time. The theory, I suppose, is that viewers get two romances for the price of one. In reality, one isn't always the loneliest number - sometimes it's the best fit...The best that can be said about The Holiday is that it's the best of 2006's crop of Christmas-themes movies, but that's not high praise considering that the other contenders are The Santa Clause 3 and Deck the Halls. - James Berardinelli

Reel.com 9 of 10
"I like corny," says the heroine of The Holiday toward the end of the movie. "I'm looking for corny." If she weren't in it, The Holiday would probably be her favorite film of all time, given that it's the most unabashedly corny and sentimental Hollywood romance in years. It isn't enough for writer/director Nancy Meyers to provide two parallel love stories--she heaps on every gooey device in the book, from cute pets to cute kids to cute old people. It's the kind of sugary movie that will send jaded viewers running for their toothbrushes, but on its own terms, it's kind of perfect. The sheer volume of intense emotional content has a cumulative effect that will easily win over anyone whose heart and mind are open to it. - Jim Hemphill