the children actually made that story 1000x sweeter.

So...what? Still doesn't change the fact that Meyers is a really clumsy writer.

Nancy Meyers is an extremely smart women, like her style or not.
She isn't a "clumsy writer", she is very much aware of what her audience likes. The Holiday is her most refined picture yet.
Nancy Meyers is a director who puts more emphasis on the narrative and actors than most directors in Hollywood, and I think its what makes her work for me. I like directors who have some visual style, but dont let the components of film-making overtake the story,

Michael, I do agree this is her best 'refined' work to date, especially after the previous bore fest of hers. But the bitch really screwed things up by saying Graham had kids. That my dear, is clumsy writing.

Though in fairness she did make a point of the kids occasionally staying with their grandparents and Jude didnt always have them at home with him.

Yeah the day after.

I saw it today. I hated the first hour, thought the second hour was amusing and inoffensive, and wanted to cry when I realized there was another 30 minutes. Why the hell does a romcom need to be so long? And I'm not just being a grump; my date hated it too. She called it 'trite.' Nice.

Note to Ms. Meyers: You can namedrop classic screwball comedies like The Lady Eve or His Girl Friday all you want. But it only underlines the fact that your film is devoid of any of their wit or charm.

Jude Law, I thought, was the best thing about the movie. He really sold some tough-to-swallow material.

Not just a date, sir, but my on-again, off-again, on-again girlfriend who usually falls for this shit. (To be fair, she DID fall for any and every moment involving those damn cute British children.)

And, yes, they were cute. A little too cute.

Okay, okay -- despite my protestations earlier in the thread, I was finally lured out to see The Holiday tonight (Damn you, Kate Winslett!)...

I like a big sucky romance as much as the next metrosexual guy, but -- Geez! The Holiday though clearly having plenty of quality mush, is then just pasted over the clunkiest story structure evahhh! The LA stuff with Kate and Jam Blam is a complete washout, though the Kate & Eli Wallach stuff did work it's magic on me. Thankfully, the Cameron and Jude segments were much better done. Yeah, I got my dose of warm fuzzys, but this was no wonder movie. It gets the job done like getting wacked with a blunt object will wake you up, but I can think of nicer ways...

3 out of 5.

for Christ sake, im just a sucker for December rom-com. THis film is brilliantly cute and you just cant help but love Cameron, Kate, Jack, Jude and the two little girls

A

the soundtrack is fucking amazing.

I agree. I love all the songs and Hans Zimmer's score. I bought the score album and downloaded all the songs that were featured in the movie.

The Iris storyline (Kate Winslet storyline) was fascinating. The opening sequence at her office party was simply superb. It set up the entire film so perfectly. I wanted to see more from the Iris storyline. That was just such an interesting idea that I've never really seen played out in a romantic comedy before.

Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded.

The problem with this film (which is the same problem with EVERY Nancy Meyers film) is that she always has her actors play themselves. It's annoying. In What Women Want, it was Mel Gibson playing Mel Gibson. In Something's Gotta Give, it was Jack Nicholson playing Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton playing Diane Keaton. Here we have Jude Law playing Jude Law, and Cameron Diaz playing Cameron Diaz, and so on. It was way too "inside Hollywood" like. I felt like the actors were aware of this. And what is up with Jude Law having such a dark sun tan in bloody England? He felt well out of place.

The better storyline was Winslet and Jack Black, as well as Eli Wallach (a gem in this film). But I also enjoyed Jude Law and Cameron Diaz (I like Diaz... I have a soft spot for her).

The movies strength (and it was a strong strength... heh) was that I found it so damn funny!! I was laughing quite a lot, actually. It succeeds with flying colours with the comedy, including some of the subtle stuff which isn't really written to be funny in it's words alone, but because of the way the actors play it, it ends up being subtle humour, and I loved it.

There's the usual awkward dramatic/crying bits suddenly entering in weird places in the film, but otherwise, I enjoyed it a lot. The comedy was great, actors in general were great even if I dissed the cast in general just beforehand. Jack Black surprised me with his gentle, non-caricature performance. Much appreciated.

A solid B film. MUCH better than Something's Gotta Give (was not a fan), and better than What Women Want too. I think this is Meyers best effort yet. All the power in the world to female directors; there should be more of them.

Peace,
Mike.

Interesting point, but it begs the question: Is "one-sided love" really love at all?

I submit that it's not, but rather a form of obsession.

B


It's your absolute typical, cute and fairly shallow romcom. I'm surprised it wasn't more successful at the box-office with its accessible premise, its cast and its release date. I think it is about on par with Meyers' What Women Want, but quite a bit behind the great (and much funnier) Something's Gotta Give. The cast ensemble here is well-chosen, but as it always happens in films with a seemingly great ensemble, it is never given a chance to really interact (obviously in this film the problem was that the four main thespians share almost no common screentime at all. There are a couple of funny scenes, but none of the four leads really captured me and unlike great romcoms like Love Actually, Notting Hill and Just Like Heaven, there is not much chemistry here. Who really lifted the film for me was the 91 year old Eli Wallach (barely recognizable from his The Good, The Bad and The Ugly times). What a great, small and heartwarming turn by him! Loved all scenes with him and Kate Winslet. Jack Black somehow seemed out of place and the romance between him and Winslet was underdeveloped, in my opinion. Law's and Diaz' story was well done, but they somewhat lacked chemistry. Another complaint of mine would be that the movie was waaayyy too long for its own good. It is perfectly possible to tell this story with a running time of 15-20 minutes less.

Now that sounds like a lot of negatives, but overall I was never bored, it was a nice date film (with an actual date this time around) and Eli Wallach was exhilarating. It is just that with a cast like this and coming off Something's Gotta Give I can't help, but feel a wee bit disappointed.

wait how was Somethings Gotta Give funnier?
Because it was Diane Keaton doing the whole ditsy-freak-out-when-no-ones-looking thing rather than Cameron Diaz?
I found The Holiday to be a better romantic comedy on every level than SGG.
Maybe because this movie was more geared towards my age group than SGG

And your age group is vastly different from mine?

C-, I found this movie to be despicably cringe-inducing and unworthily self-congratulatory. Annoying characters with poor chemistry together. And one of the most overbearingly manipulative movie score of all time.

F. Lack of chemistry, boring story, predictable plot.

Okay, I'll bite.



All true. But how can you level that complaint against this particular silly film while having friggin' Blood Diamond in your signature? Isn't that a case of the pot calling the kettle pot?

blood diamond to me was the 2nd best movie of the year. I couldn't even finish The Holiday in one viewing. I had to stop wait a day and try again. To be honest though, I really dislike Jude Law and probably a little bias.

A-
I love Nancy Meyers films and I really enjoyed this, very charming and cozy and just a delight.

No, it's called "having a different opinion than you."

Sorry for being rude, but I think it's perhaps a bit...absurd...to act incredulous over the fact someone liked a movie you didn't.

Blood Diamond comes from the same recycled goods Hollywood Screenplay factory that birthed The Holiday. They are equally cliched, predictable and trite. I just think it's odd that people are less forgiving when the gruel is served in chick-flick form.

i enjoy chick flicks and have liked all of nancy myer's previous works. I just felt that this was not a very good effort from her so i probably graded it harder then i should of. I expected better from her.