Movie Review
If movies survived only on charm, “The Holiday” would be a perfect film. It’s the type of movie where the dilemmas are pretty contrived and where the main characters don’t have too many financial worries. Yes, in fact, it seems the four leads of “The Holiday” are slightly better than well-to-do and can take a transatlantic vacation on a moment’s notice. But if that weren’t the case, there wouldn’t be a movie. Or certainly not a movie so charming.
Nancy Meyer’s new movie is the tale of four people whose lives collide through a lucky internet chat. Iris (Kate Winslet) is a journalist in England who is sick of being at the wrong end of unrequited love. Her current love interest is now getting married, but not to her.
Iris lives in a quaint little cabin; cozy and quiet. She keeps the cabin on an online chat room where lookers can rent out her cabin for vacation, which is good news for Amanda (Cameron Diaz). Amanda produces trailers for upcoming movies and she’s made a lot of money doing it. She lives in a mansion in LA where one morning she and her husband call it quits.
Upon surfing the web for a vacation spot, she happens to find Iris’s little cabin. In a matter of minutes, the plans are made and the bags are packed, and Iris and Amanda switch places for two weeks over Christmas. Soon Graham (Jude Law), a single man in England, and Miles (Jack Black), a film composer in LA, enter the mix, but I’ll leave it to the movie to see how they’re connected. That’s part of the fun of “The Holiday.”
But most of the fun comes from these actors who are totally engulfed in their characters, which subsequently are very well-written. Winslet – an already underrated actress – shines with every word that exits her mouth. She loves this character; that’s evident on screen. Jack Black, at first glance, looks to be in new territory. That’s true to a point, but in all actuality, Black is always this sincere and candid and funny. Law is believable as a single man with a secret. The point in the movie when that secret is revealed is handled masterfully.
Perhaps Diaz oversteps the bounds of believability once or twice, but much of her storyline requires a lot of vulnerability.
The highlight of this already-bright movie is Eli Wallach who, at 92, still knows just exactly how to mold his words to perfection. His character, Arthur Abbott, is a modest former Hollywood screenwriter. Arthur is the type of person who recalls great lines from great movies a lot, but refuses to acknowledge his own contributions. To a large extent, he feels the world forgot him a long time ago.
Added to this, Black’s film composer Miles is a joy to watch and listen to. Many of his scenes revolve around playing music (which, if it isn’t real, looks very convincing) or talking about his favorite movie scores and composers (one of which is Hans Zimmer, the composer of “The Holiday”). His fascination makes a potentially overwrought scene in a movie rental store very funny.
All this talk of movies and actors and great lines and composers makes me certain that Nancy Meyers adores the movies. Her love is translated clearly onto screen in a film like “The Holiday,” where many great lines are present, and where characters find the time to enjoy an Irene Dunn movie.
“The Holiday” is uncommonly touching... and charming. *** ½