The Holiday



Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black and Jude Law form an interesting and at times delightful ensemble in this light romantic comedy. 

The plot: Amanda Wood (Diaz) is an overworked, emotionless Hollywood trailer guru (she owns a company that makes the trailers for movies). After breaking up with her boyfriend (Edward Burns), she decides at the spur of the moment to take a vacation - she goes onto a web site that specialises in house swaps. There she sees and decides on a small cottage in the Cotswolds owned by Iris (Kate Winslet), a marriage columnist with The Telegraph. Iris is aching to get away for a while after the man she has been in love with for 3 years announces that he is marrying someone else; she jumps at the change to swap with Amanda and jet out to sunny LA. After spending 6 hours in the Cotswolds in Iris's cottage, around 1AM, Amanda decides it is a huge mistake and decides to head home just about the time that a drunk Graham (Jude Law) starts knocking on the cottage door thinking his sister Iris will put him up for the night. One thing leads to another and he and Amanda end up having sex (and falling in love, though neither will admit it yet). Iris, meanwhile, is having a ball in LA. She meets elderly Hollywood screen writer Arthur Abbot (Eli Wallach) and musical score composer Miles (Jack Black). Iris and Jack are both in the same situation, having fallen for handsome/beautiful people who are bad for them and just use them. You can see where this is going so I won't go on, except to say that there is a minor twist that I didn't see coming.
  The summary: A light and at times witty and touching film, the Holiday doesn't have much to say, which is refreshing nowadays. See it without the trepidation that it will somehow preach to you about saving the environment or the 'evil' President Bush. It is a nice romantic comedy with some good actors and writing. Jack Black looked horribly out of place, not acting like the usual fool on screen. That's not to say he wasn't good in the film, but his character wasn't given the dialogue and screen time necessary to flesh him out and generate more empathy - that was saved for Jude Law. 

  The Casablanca comparison: Amanda is a blond bombshell in a new place (both physically and emotionally) and needing someone to help her find her way to safety - Jude Law turns out to be the man she needs. Sound familiar? 

  The rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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