The Holiday tells the story of two women, Iris (Winslet) and Amanda (Diaz), whose love lives are disasters. Iris is in love with a taken man, and Amanda has just dumped her unfaithful boyfriend. As Christmas approaches, Iris and Amanda meet online and decide to trade houses for the holidays - Iris will stay in Amanda's posh Los Angeles mansion, and Amanda will spend a week in Iris' cozy English cottage. Each heroine meets a potential love interest while on holiday: for Amanda, it's Iris' dashing brother Graham (Law); for Iris, it's good-natured musician Miles (Black). - (Alert)
Two women, one in Los Angeles and the other in London, exchange homes during the Christmas holiday to forget the men in their lives, only to fall in love again. - (Baker & Taylor)
Two women, one Los Angeles and the other in London, exchange homes during the Christmas holiday to forget the men in their lives, only to fall in love again. - (Baker & Taylor)
Two women on opposite sides of the globe, Amanda Woods (Diaz) and Iris Simpkins (Winslet) find themselves in a similar predicament. Desperate for a change of scenery, the two women meet on the internet and swap houses for the Christmas holiday discovering that a change of address really can change your life. - (Sony Pictures Home Enter)
Video Librarian Reviews
The latest film by Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, Something's Gotta Give) is a dewy-eyed lark about the romantic possibilities of long-distance house-swapping. After Amanda (Cameron Diaz) in California and Iris (Kate Winslet) in England meet online—both suffering from relationship problems—they agree to exchange homes for a couple of weeks vacation, where (not surprisingly) both find new boyfriends—Jude Law and Jack Black, respectively. The problem with The Holiday is not that it's pure hokum squared, but rather that it's incredibly verbose (138 minutes worth, to be exact), without being either witty or charming. The film is also saddled with entirely too many fish-out-of-water sequences for the two female leads, and it's grossly manipulative, shamelessly dragging into the mix two adorable wide-eyed moppets, a scene-stealing dog, and a lovable old man for no compelling reason other than to milk viewer emotions. Not recommended. (F. Swietek) Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2007.