The Holiday (12A)

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Eli Wallach

Review by Carol Allen

A cheesy romantic comedy which is sometimes funny for the wrong reasons and lives in a movie world of its own, but is entertaining nevertheless.

L.A. based movie trailer maker Amanda (Diaz) and Daily Telegraph weddings columnist (I kid you not!) Iris (Winslet) live on opposite sides of the world but they both have boyfriend trouble at the same time. Amanda kicks out her live in-lover (Edward Burns) for being unfaithful. Can't say I really blame him; she's so busy with her job she refuses to have sex with him. Meanwhile, Iris's fellow journalist and on-off lover Jasper (Rufus Sewell) has just announced his engagement to another woman. And to top it all it's the run up to Christmas. The two women meet on the internet and in a most unlikely fashion decide at a day's notice to swap lifestyles for the festive season. So Iris moves into Amanda's luxurious Hollywood mansion, while Amanda takes up residence in Iris's idyllic country cottage "only 40 minutes from London", we are told. The cottage is where some of those unintentional laughs come - a Christmas card cottage with snow falling around it in what must be one of the last remote outposts of rural Surrey with a perfect traditional country pub down the road. The American's total fantasy view of England.

Even though Diaz is appealingly ditzy tottering down the country lane through the snow to her holiday home in her stilettoes, I found the character a bit irritating and American in her self obsession, whereas Iris is a funnier, feisty muddler, who can’t get her romantic act together. Jude Law does his best with a real Mills and Boon, Mr Perfect Dreamboat character as Graham, Iris's brother with whom Amanda falls in love. The scenes in America have far more conviction. Iris exploring Amanda's house with whoops of delight is fun and her relationship with Arthur (Wallach), an aged Hollywood screenwriter who has become a recluse, is both funny and sweet. The script strains to parallel the two women’s lives rather, giving Iris a new American boyfriend in the tubby shape of film composer Miles (Jack Black). It would in some ways have been better if Iris’s American love affair had been limited to her loving friendship with Arthur, rather than dragging in Miles. It’s almost as though Meyers is trying to give both women the same romantic deal, only Iris’s goes more slowly and is less sexy because she gets the fat and funny bloke. Jack Black is good though and that bit of story line is worth it for a lovely gag involving Dustin Hoffman. Burns doesn't have a lot to do and Rufus Sewell does his best with the unrewarding role of love rat. I didn’t believe a word of it from start to finish but as a bit of romantic escapism for Christmas, it’s not without entertainment value.