Movie Review: The Holiday

After a few hiccups, I finally managed to catch up a friend to catch this flick and so we could exchange Christmas gifts. We both could not help but drool over Jude Law in this film. Now, I have only seen a couple of his movies (Alfie & Closer) and did not find him attractive at all in those. It must have been the closeups in this film - his eyes are just so gorgeous!

Plot: Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet) and she’s chronically in love with a heel called Jasper (Rufus Sewell) who uses her while she keeps hoping that one day they’ll be an item. Those hopes fade at the office Christmas party when Jasper announces he’s engaged to be married – to someone else. Meanwhile, in LA, Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz) has punched out her boyfriend, Ethan (Edward Burns) for sleeping with someone else and decides she needs a break. Iris’ home, which Amanda finds on the Internet, is just the place she wants to escape to, and the two unlucky-in-love women agree to swap homes for the holiday and leave their man troubles behind them. Well, that’s the plan.

Iris is in seventh heaven in Amanda’s sprawling Hollywood house, but Amanda is not so at home in Iris’ more cramped and isolated abode and decides to return to LA…until she meets Iris’ charming brother, Graham (Jude Law). The two hit it off and hit the sack – after all, Amanda’s leaving soon, so there can be no complications – right? Wrong. Soon Amanda is finding reasons to linger a little longer and, while she does, she learns more and more that endears her to the man she’s determined not to fall in love with.

In LA, Iris befriends neighbour, Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach), a veteran screenwriter of Hollywood’s golden age, and while Iris encourages and prepares a reluctant Arthur for a Screenwriters’ Guild tribute in his honour, he subtly tries to help her find her independence. The scenes between Winslet and the 90-year-old Wallach are a delight.

Iris also becomes friendly with movie composer, Miles (Jack Black), another romantic who happens to be listening to the love theme from Cinema Paradiso when they meet. Miles’ girlfriend is actress, Maggie (Shannyn Sossamon), but is she the real thing? Like Iris, Miles is kind of fragile when it comes to love, so what are the chances of their friendship becoming something more once they both overcome their respective romantic obstacles – Jasper and Maggie?