‘The Holiday’ Has Moments of Brilliance
Kate Winslet and Jack Black in The Holiday | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
The Holiday follows four different people in different parts of the world as they seek to grow and find love.
This year on Movies & Us, we are reviewing the 1922 and 2024 versions of Nosferatu, but it felt weird to be posting a review of a vampire horror movie on Christmas. So, we decided to watch The Holiday. Our December 2024 reviews have been incredibly eclectic, which is a lot of fun.
As I’ve written about previously, I’m not a big rom-com person. I think they can be problematic and can set unhealthy expectations for the teenage girls who often watch these films. And I think that The Holiday is one of the better ones. While there is a more traditional rom-com storyline, there’s another story of emotional growth and healing and the importance of community, which I think is really important.
Amanda (Cameron Diaz) is a powerful businesswoman who is at the top of her game in making Hollywood movie trailers. After she dumps her boyfriend, who had cheated on her, she does a home exchange and spends two weeks in England before Christmas.
While there, she meets Graham (Jude Law) and they fall into the typical rom-com romance. These two gorgeous people find each other and fall in love with all of the necessary drama to make that exciting. Their story is pretty standard and isn’t the one that I want to focus on.
Jude Law and Cameron Diaz in The Holiday | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
Iris (Kate Winslet) seeks to get over Jasper (Rufus Sewell), who has just gotten engaged. She ends up staying in Amanda’s LA home for two weeks in an attempt to get away from Jasper and start to heal. While there, she meets Arthur (Eli Wallach) and Miles (Jack Black), and the three form an unlikely group of friends.
Iris, Arthur, and Miles each have their own struggles that they’re trying to work through. Iris has Jasper hanging over her head, Miles has his relationship with Maggie (Shannyn Sossamon), and Arthur has been invited to receive an award, but he doesn’t think he’s worthy. And each of them helps the others grow.
I think that their friendship is what makes The Holiday interesting to watch. They demonstrate the importance of community in our lives and what it means to have people actually believe in us. Iris and Miles believe in Arthur and want the best for him, so they help him prepare to receive this award. At the same time, Iris and Miles are able to work through the areas in their lives where they feel unworthy. All of this healing and growth doesn’t happen in isolation — they’ve all tried going at it alone — but it happens when they come together and champion each other.
Arthur was a screenwriter in Hollywood, penning some really iconic films. This means that this character is constantly making film references and encouraging Iris to watch these great classic films. And watching those movies helps her realize that there’s so much more to her than others have told her.
I love that their story helps demonstrate the power and importance of movies in our lives. Watching a film is entertaining, of course, but it can also be so much more than that. Movies can give us a vision of how things could be. We can see other realities and worlds that can affect how we live our lives. And I think that’s really beautiful.
The Holiday is about romantic storylines, but I think it’s also about the importance of art in our lives. This film showcases how the stories that we watch or read help shape our world, which is what we’re all about on Movies & Us. (If you’ll forgive the shameless plug.)
Kate Winslet and Jack Black in The Holiday | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
The Holiday is a cozy film that follows a couple of different storylines. If you’re looking for a traditional rom-com, there’s plenty of that for you. And if you’re looking for solid character growth and healing, that’s in there too. We also get to see the magic of the movies and the power of music to inspire and move us.
There’s a lot that this film gets right, especially in Iris, Miles, and Arthur’s storylines, and I think that’s why this continues to have such a strong following nearly 20 years later. You could do worse than watching The Holiday this Christmas season.