Walking into the MUB Theater the weekend before spring break, I must tell you I wasn't expecting much out of a Cameron Diaz-Kate Winslet movie, with side players Jude Law and Jack Black. It just doesn't spell out a recipe for success. We have Cameron Diaz, an actress who is mainly cast for her good looks and somewhat lovable personality. Then there's Kate Winslet, the 'made famous by Titanic' movie star, who has had her luck with other films, but still doesn't stand out or get as much credit as she should. Next comes, Jude Law, the nanny loving, British hunk who got his claim to fame with such films as "Gattaca" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley." And finally we have Jack Black. (In the words of Borat, "Whhhaaattt??") Black has had his fair share of movie deals ranging from the seriousness of "King Kong," then back to his roots with "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny," and then he jumps to a romantic comedy. Does this work? To answer that question… yes it does… quite well actually.
Diaz plays a movie trailer editor from L.A., Amanda, who has just broken up with her cheating boyfriend, and on the verge of a mental breakdown and esophagus stress overload. On the other side of the country, in Surrey, England, we have Iris (Winslet), a journalist, who like Amanda is having a problem with the men in her life. He ex, Jasper (Rufus Sewell), has become engaged to the woman he left her for. The two ladies take a vacation (or holiday as the Brits like to call it) during Christmas and find themselves home exchanging. They agree in a split instance, and in no longer than one day are living in each other's houses for two weeks in order to forget their troubled love lives. Sounds boring, right? Well along comes Iris's brother, Graham (Law) who sweeps Amanda off her feet and coupled with his adorable daughters makes for a lovely evening. Meanwhile in L.A., Winslet befriends an old movie writer, Arthur, (Eli Wallach), who helps her fall in love with Amanda's movie composer, Miles (Black). After a few bumps here and a few changes of the mind there, eventually Miles and Iris hit it off, as well as at the same time as Amanda and Graham. You can see where I'm going with this.
In a theater filled with 90 percent women, the movie was meant to generate a few tears here and there. And although the movie started out somewhat slow (and ran a bit long at 2 hours and 20 mintues) it picked up and the audience was soon drawn into a lovable, romantic comedy, that had just the right combination of the two. Playing on Amanda's job, with theatrical trailers detailing her every move, to Miles' carefully plotted jokes, along with the ever-comical Arthur, made for a simple, yet fun movie. Through the many 'awws' (and believe me, there were many) from the audience, "The Holiday" definitely had its moments, causing the viewer to get so involved with the plot, that some were yelling at the screen because they were so caught up in the moment.
"The Holiday" is definitely the ultimate chick flick… and I must say… one of the best I've seen in a long time. It was entertaining and lovable. Every woman in that audience came out saying how it was 10 times better than they expected, and they felt what the characters were feeling. It's a sob story filled with comical relief to make for the perfect combination and I bet even the few guys in the audience enjoyed it (although they won't admit it I'm sure).
"The Holiday" was released on DVD March 13.
Laura's Grade: B+
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