The Holiday is about two women who exchange homes for the holidays after reaching a tumultuous romantic turning point. Kate Winslet leaves her charming Surrey cottage for Cameron Diaz’s sleak and modern LA home. They both meet possible perfect romantic prospects that seem unlikely to work because of the men’s superficial romantic status, circumstances and distances.
While watching The Holiday, I could not suspend disbelief and buy that any man, especially the usually legendary villain Rufus Sewell, would not leap at the chance to be with Kate Winslet. If I made The Holiday, it would be a movie about an intergenerational and unlikely friendship between Kate Winslet and Eli Wallach as they discuss classic Hollywood films. I enjoy Jack Black, but Winslet felt reduced to an audience member laughing at his schtick as opposed to a potential couple. If I have to choose between Wallach and Black, I’ll toss Black overboard every single time.
I actually like Cameron Diaz, but I kept thinking that I saw The Holiday before because I feel like I have seen her play that role before-a dash of The Other Woman and a pinch of The Sweetest Thing. Jude Law is always handsome and fun to watch, but their story was so cliché that I did not enjoy it. In real life, people don’t act like her character. Diaz’s character felt more like a broad performance as opposed to an organic, human character.
I think that I am too old to enjoy the formulaic rom coms that I delighted at when I was younger. The Holiday focused on the wrong relationship-intergenerational friendships are far more interesting.