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The Holiday: a Film by Nancy Myers
By Niki Shah, Managing Editor
December 8, 2006, the newest film written and directed by Nancy
Meyers (Something's Gotta Give), The Holiday was released. The film,
starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black, is
about Amanda Woods (Diaz), an uptight, workaholic editor of movie
trailers from Los Angeles, and Iris Simpkins (Winslet), a newspaper
reporter from Surrey who has an unlucky love life. Amanda's
boyfriend, Ethan, cheats on her, because he says she is a
cold-hearted workaholic who hasn't cried since she was fifteen.
Amanda decides that she desperately needs a vacation from her life.
As she is looking on the Internet for hassle-free vacations, she
sees a website for switching houses. She contacts Iris, and they
immediately agree to switching houses for two weeks, starting the
next day, and Amanda goes to Surrey and Iris goes to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Iris quickly adapts
to Amanda's sophisticated lifestyle, and she meets her neighbor, a
ninety year old Oscar winner named Arthur Abbot. She also meets
Miles (Black), Ethan's colleague who is sent to pick up his stuff
from Amanda's house. They are immediate friends, and eventually
become more.
On Amanda's first day in Surrey, she
meets Graham (Law), Iris's brother, and their relationship is not
as, for lack of a better word, coy, as the relationship between Iris
and Miles. They do not, however, talk much about their lives, and
Amanda soon finds that Graham has a secret he is keeping from her.
The Holiday is well-directed,
well-written, and, for the most part, well-acted. Jude Law is
convincing as a decent, ordinary guy, but Cameron Diaz is annoying
as an ego-centric who feels too sorry for herself. As the movie
wears on, however, one gets used to her mannerisms. Jack Black and
Kate Winslet, however, are both amazing in this movie, and have a
rare chemistry. When Cameron Diaz and Jude Law get together in this
film, the audience feels nothing, but in the scenes in which Iris
and Miles interact, you can't help but feel happy for them.
Overall, this is a great movie with
lots of holiday spirit. You'll definitely come out of the theatre
laughing, happy, and full of holiday cheer.
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