The Holiday review

When Iris and Amanda have enough with the men in their lives they decide to spend Christmas on their own far away. They swap homes, cars, everything for the holiday. Soon enough the girls are getting back on their feet, and realise that going against your instincts can have the loveliest of results.

Starring Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jack Black, The Holiday certainly features an impressive line-up, but does it meet the expectations generated by these hottest of Hollywood names?

Its line-up is not that of the average rom com. For starters, Hugh Grant’s nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, on watching the film, it becomes apparent as to why Law and Diaz tend to shy away from the genre; it’s clearly not their strongest. Kate Winslet is as brilliant and natural as always and her story brings the same snugly blanket feeling of comfort as Colin Firth’s does in Love Actually.

And Jack Black is in there for the lads. You may in fact find it worth watching just to see how he fairs in a rom com. Unfortunately though, while he’s great in the scenes that he does appear in, he’s simply not given enough screen time. This is a great shame as his bolshy loud-mouthed humour brings a sense of reality to this movie that none of the other characters do.

One of the major flaws of this film is that it is simply too cheesy, mainly thanks to Diaz’s character. Even the most seasoned rom com fan walks gets just-chewed-on-two-sweeteners feeling.

If you’re going to watch The Holiday with your fella then buy him pizza in advance. If you’re going to watch it with some girlfriends however, then get ready to shriek your lungs out.

While it’s unlikely that The Holiday is going to become one of your top ten films, if a heart-warming ticks-all-the-boxes rom com is what you’re after, then this is the DVD for you.

For entertainmentwise