Sleigh Bells Ring...(Save it For Christmas!!) (The Holiday (DVD))

Member Name: katestuartuk

Product:	The Holiday (DVD)
Date:	17/09/07 (97 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Jack Black!!

Disadvantages: None really, just wish I'd kept it for christmas - it's a christmas sort of film...

The Holiday (2006)

All this waiting around to go into labour has to be spent doing something, and the something I’ve spent most of it doing (not including sleeping, you understand, which I have become quite amazingly good at doing at all the wring times of day…) is watching films.

The latest in this long line of consumed movies is this rather romantic, humorous, and quite, well, seasonal, in a Christmassie sort of way film which I’ve wanted to see for a while and wished I’d saved till Christmas! It is a good film, very much a rom-com, and with some great acting, fabulous scenes and a few curve balls thrown in for good measure to keep you on your toes, but it’s ultimately a very soft and gentle Christmas Day movie for when you’re so full of turkey and it’s trimmings that you really don’t care what’s on the goggle box. That said, I am 4 days away from my official due date and quite frankly, turkey with all the trimmings PLUS pudding has nothing on how HUGE I feel!

Who’s in it?

Kate Winslet plays Iris, a newspaper journalist sort who is deeply in love with the ex who cheated on her and can’t seem to snap out of being nice to him, despite him having moved on considerably faster than the average Boeing 747. Cameron Diaz plays Amanda Wood, who doesn’t have a great deal of confidence in her relationships and plunges her whole being into her work as an editor of movie trailers. Jude Law is Iris’s brother, and the fabulous Jack Black plays Miles, who is somehow connected to Amanda’s business – musically wise I think, though I must have been scoffing a jaffa cake when that bit was explained because I can’t quite remember the connection.
There are some great characters in the film, the elderly, but sprightly Arthur being one of them, and the adorable Sophie and Olivia being two more and there are some classic moments where you wonder if the acting was verging on ad-lib that day (in a good way!)
Other players include Rufus Sewell, Sarah Parish and even a cameo by none other than Dustin Hoffman! All in all, a great cast, a lot of British faces, and some pretty good acting al said and done, though certainly not Oscar nomination quality!

What’s it about?

Iris, as I’ve said, is unable to fall out of love with dodgy cheating ex ( Rufus Sewell), while on the other side of the pond Amanda gets impulsive and decides to go away for Christmas and New Year to “Be Somewhere Else”!! Swapping house, car, neighbours et al, they each spend time outside of their usual spaces, waiting for things to resolve themselves by their absence. Of course, problems always follow you, and these two are no exception, but the question is, will they manage to work through them to a happy ending? Well, you’ll have to watch it and see.

Is it any good? (i.e.: What do I think of it??!)

I really enjoyed this film. There were enough laugh-out-loud moments to keep me smiling, the occasional blub into a handkerchief moments to release some of those pent up pregnant hormones, and some lovely English wintry scenes to calm my soul, albeit momentarily! The storyline is good, there is good closure, which I feel is always important in a romantic comedy, and the parallels between the two characters are really quite cool. I liked it a lot, and may even watch it again before I pop it back away to Lovefilm.com!!


Recommended as an easy going movie with lots of giggles, some tears and HEAPS of romance!

Thank you for reading, Kate x

Summary: Recommended. For the fun and the romance and the occassional tear!