What’s a “good-bad” movie? It’s the kind of flick that might have you cackling, hollering or groaning, one that is not necessarily great cinema but is great fun. It’s highly watchable even though — or maybe because — it’s memorably ridiculous. And it always has at least one element that pushes it into absurd territory.
“Love Actually,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “You’ve Got Mail” walked so that “The Holiday” could run.
Pulling D.N.A. from all these films, the 2006 rom-com from director Nancy Meyers is a BlackBerry-era tale of Christmastime love and real-estate envy starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as Amanda and Iris, both heartsick and desperate for a fresh perspective.
The women, newly betrayed by their longtime beaus, connect on a house-swap website after Amanda simply Googles “vacation spots.” (There’s no evidence that Airbnb was inspired by “The Holiday,” but it was a founded two years after the movie was released, so you decide.)
For an emotional reset over the winter break, Iris — who’s done being the side piece for her suddenly engaged co-worker — travels to Amanda’s ritzy, palm-tree-studded Los Angeles mansion. And Amanda, a workaholic who cuts movie trailers and who just discovered she was cheated on, heads to Iris’s dreamy, tucked-away, snow-clad cottage in Surrey, England. Incredibly, the décor in both still really holds up.
Enter Jude Law as Graham and Jack Black as Miles: the men who step into the picture at just the right moment (well, sort of).
The film toggles between these locations and story lines for nearly its entirety. The result: a movie that’s 50 percent witty banter and steamy sparks, 50 percent awkward prom date, and 100 percent good-bad, festive, chick-flick perfection.
What Makes It Good?
A Chemistry Experiment Gone Right
A stressed-out, big-city girl with a big-time job finds true love with a smoldering, small-town guy with a heart of gold. Sound familiar? It’s essentially the plot of infinite Hallmark holiday movies — and a trope that’s probably never been done better than here.
Diaz is at her effortlessly quirky and charming best, and Law convincingly delivers a nuanced arc: At first, we’re led to believe he’s just an impish yet endearing playboy, only to realize later he’s a widowed father of two precious girls. The other “women” Amanda assumed he was covertly talking to were his little ones all along.
They also manage to imbue surprising depth, heart and humor as Amanda and Graham navigate their unexpected love connection and individual hangups. Mr. Napkin Head, anyone?
Not to mention, Amanda and Graham get all of the catchy tunes: including “Let Go” by Frou Frou and, famously, “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers.
What Makes It Bad?
A Chemistry Experiment Gone Wrong
On a red carpet in 2019, Jack Black was asked to name his favorite holiday movie, to which he enthusiastically responded, “Elf.” When asked why he didn’t say his own movie, he replied: “Do I have a Christmas movie? Which one is mine?”
Honestly, who could blame him? He appears onscreen for only 10 or so of the movie’s first 90 minutes. And when he finally gets more screen time, his distinctive brand of Jack Black-ness — often delightful and infectious — doesn’t quite land. Instead, Miles, an overly earnest fellow who scores movies (and does not leave his work at the office), feels more like Iris’s younger brother than her love interest. He does the crazy eyebrows; he does the singsong-y “doodily fruitily doos.” It’s pure corn.
Winslet, a performer of the highest caliber, is also largely wasted — particularly in her scenes with Black. Iris is a basket case who vacillates between irrepressible bawling and schoolgirl giggling. It’s a brand of pathetic that borders on unbelievable. And when her character briefly considers killing herself, breathing in gas from her range, the tone dips sideways.
The truth is, Black didn’t really need to be in “The Holiday” at all, because Iris gets a real love story in her side plot — one of friendship with Arthur (Eli Wallach in possibly the best performance of the movie), a lonely older neighbor and onetime screenwriter during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Winslet’s character comes to life in her scenes with Arthur as the characters forge a tender, meaningful bond that’s rarely represented. Meyers could have left it at that: Instead of finding a man, Iris could simply have found her self-confidence and a dear friend.
What Makes It Good-Bad?
The Whiplash
While I’ve often jokingly pined for an edit of “The Holiday” that isolates the stories so I can just watch the Amanda-Graham half, there’s no way it would be as sparkling, fun or memorable if it weren’t set against its cringe-y counterpoint. And it’s not even just the dynamic between Iris and Arthur (and, I guess, Miles) that would be lost, but all the sunny lala-land vibes that make the frosty, twinkle-lit, holiday-time English markets and pubs hit that much harder.
Maya Salam is an editor and reporter, focusing primarily on pop culture across genres.
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