The Holiday : Movie Review

THE HOLIDAY 

Director : Nancy Meyers

Genre : Romance/Comedy

Cast : Kate Winslet (Iris), Cameron Diaz (Amanda), Jude Law (Graham), Jack Black (Miles) and others

Release Date : February 9, 2007

Rating : 6.9/10 (IMDb)

Duration : 2 hr 18 mins

Language : English

Reviewed By : Shravni Datta Borade

The Holiday is a story about two women.

Iris Simpkins (Winslet) is a London-based columnist for The Daily Telegraph who is in love with her coworker and ex-boyfriend, Jasper Bloom. Even though they had broken up due to Jasper's dishonesty, he continues to hang out with Iris, pretending to be her friend to ask for favours and writing advice from her. Iris discovers Jasper is engaged to another lady on her last day of work before the holidays.

Meanwhile, Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz), a corporate executive from Los Angeles, discovers that her boyfriend Ethan is cheating on her with his young secretary on the other side of the planet. Ethan blames Amanda for being a workaholic and unwilling to be moved by anything, and she kicks him out of the house.

Both women decide to go on vacation alone to get away from their dismal love affairs. Amanda ends up on a home-exchange website where Iris has listed her Surrey cottage, and they agree to swap homes for two weeks.

Iris meets Arthur, an older man who had worked as a screenwriter in the Golden Age of Hollywood, and Miles (Jack Black), a composer with whom she develops a strong friendship. Their holidays present many surprises. Graham (Jude Law), Iris's older brother, strikes up a passionate connection with Amanda, on the other hand. Yet as the trip draws to a close, our heroes must confront their uncertainties and make choices for when they return home.

We are introduced to two distinct types of women, who share the common experience of failing to find love. We observe Iris as a highly affectionate and trusting individual, two traits that have made her vulnerable to exploitation in her previous relationship. When it comes to her emotions, she is very open. The complete opposite is Amanda. She finds it extremely difficult to be vulnerable on a personal level, and she does not believe she possesses any qualities that would make her a desirable romantic partner.

They realise that they might have been underestimating themselves as a result of the entire vacation and the people they meet along the way. that they might be deserving more than they have been accepting.

Iris and Miles' connection is the one I felt more endearing, although Graham and Amanda are given a little more screen time in the film. Yet I appreciate that each couple has its unique problems. Graham and Amanda believe that no one would ever truly accept them for the kind of life they lead—she is a career-focused individual, and he is a single father. They found it challenging to bond with or form strong attachments to other individuals as a result of all of this. On the other side, Iris and Miles tend to be warm and loving by nature, but they never manage to find somebody who can appreciate and understand their characteristics.

The film itself has some extremely funny moments. The phone call scene is my favourite, but many others make me laugh as if I've never seen them before.