The Holiday (2006)

Why so much hype?

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Which one did you like? The cosy cottage in the English countryside, or the modern villa in LA? Which character of those men did you like? The funny one, or the one who cries when reading poems or watching films? It's a enjoyable film that raises such questions and speaks to you directly.

I went into the film not expecting much and came out of it feeling much the same. The elements of romance and comedy occasionally hit the landing but besides that the film is rather bland. Many scenes, especially near the beginning, go on for far too long, and as a result I didn't really feel engaged by the narrative that much.However, the performances of all the main actors are assured which works very well in the films favour, particularly from Kate Winslet and Jude Law. Also the story arc between Iris and the screenwriter Arthur is explored wonderfully with the correct amount of nuance, which for me was the best part of the film.By no means is this a terrible film, it's just rather middling.

Kate Winslet deserves much much better than Jack Black! He is fat, not remotely handsome, and boring. Kate is beautiful, funny, smart, talented, and shining on the screen. She shouldn't have played the second woman. The girlfriend. She is a leading lady. The movie is boring too, not funny, not smart, not entertaining. Not even related to Christmas, just shot at Christmas time. Judd Law is too good for Cameron Diaz too... Maybe, if Kate and Judd, and Jack and Cameron would make a couple, that would be better. Horrible, fake. Just got the feedback I need 10 lines when I actually wrote 11 lines. Not sure whats the issue IMDb... So added this text hopefully will accept.

I watched this movie several years ago and this month I got a free trial for Shomi which is a video streaming service like Netflix. As soon as I saw The Holiday was there I wanted to watch it. I didn't remember much, the only thing I remember that was very romantic. I don't really like romantic movies and I don't know how I got to watch it in the first place, but I really liked it. After having watched it the second time, I decided this was going to be my Christmas movie, the movie I will watch every Christmas :)Then I decided to read on IMDb what people thought of it hoping to find at least 7.5 rating for it and was disappointed by negative reviews. It's not a masterpiece, but it's a very nice movie that makes me happy, I watched it second time and it had the same effect as years ago, it leaves with a very warm feeling. Acting is good, I love the music in the movie, how the plot evolves, I love the dialogues - it's almost perfect.