The Holiday

The Holiday falls into the category of more successful commercial romantic films that manage to be relaxing as well as entertaining. It is evident that the characters are written specifically for the charismatic actors, and it is they who raise the level of the movie at least one class higher. Kate Winslet in particular is great, charming, and cute as usual. Another wonderful actor is Eli Wallach (for whom this is a showcase role) who plays a bigger film part with gusto after several years of smaller roles. The great pity is that there is no proper script, let alone a plot. The result is a patchwork of variously successful scenes. Among the most successful are those where the authors make fun of Hollywood. Although the film is entertaining throughout and is not boring, it definitely could have been edited down, because almost 140 minutes for this kind of movie is at the very limit of tolerability. Overall, a solid, albeit weaker 4 star rating, partly due to the successful cameos. (01/29/2007)

Rarely does the USA make a romantic comedy this good. I found the whole movie insanely honest. And for being over 2 hours long, I wasn't bored at all. An amazing foursome complete with charming moments and situations. I really wasn't missing anything. No scene where I thought "Nooo, this should have been different". In a word (and I'm not exaggerating) – PERFECT. (12/05/2010)

The Holiday is a fake romantic comedy with a few sincere moments. Besides that, it gives off a whiff of sucking up to people in the film industry, let’s say directly to academics (the storyline with the old Oscar-winning screenwriter). Sorry, but there’s a deep chasm between Hollywood’s The Holiday and the British Love Actually. (01/17/2007)

This movie has a single advantage – it has actresses that all the boys around the world dream of. It also offers charismatic male actors that many young girls would wish to sit for a coffee with. But the biggest issue is that it was the only thing that made me finish the movie. Actually, it was Cameron Diaz, whom I was the happiest to see in the entire movie. I simply like it when girls are crazy like that. (12/12/2013)

I admit that if this wasn't a Christmas movie where gooey romance is to be expected, I would have rated the film three stars at most. I knew what I was in for, so I would feel like a hypocrite if I was overly critical now. Given the circumstances, I did enjoy the film, even though I'm not a fan of Jude Law, let alone Jack Black. The premise was pretty wacky, but it was handled quite well. The two hours that initially scared me a little just raced by. The only thing I could do without was Kate Winslet's lengthy speech which was a little boring. (01/08/2018)