The Holiday


The Holiday is a 2006 romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers. Co-produced by Bruce A. Block, it was filmed in both California and England, and stars Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz as Iris and Amanda, two lovelorn women from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, who arrange a home exchange to escape heartbreak during the Christmas and holiday season. Jude Law and Jack Black were cast as the film's leading men Graham and Miles, with Eli Wallach, Shannyn Sossamon, Edward Burns and Rufus Sewell playing key supporting roles.
The Holiday premiered in New York City on November 29, 2006, before it was theatrically released in the United Kingdom and United States on December 8, 2006. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures in North America and by Universal Pictures overseas. It grossed over $205 million worldwide against a budget of $85 million. The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising its visual aesthetic design and the cast's performances, though regarded the plot as predictable.

Plot

Iris Simpkins, a society columnist for The Daily Telegraph in London, still loves her ex-boyfriend, Jasper Bloom, despite the fact that he cheated on her and is emotionally needy. She is devastated to find out he is engaged and decides to get away for the holidays.
Amanda Woods, a movie trailer producer in Los Angeles, breaks up with her film composer boyfriend, Ethan, after he admits to cheating on her. She comes across Iris’ listing of her cottage on a home swap website and messages her. They agree to switch houses for two weeks starting the next day.
Iris has no trouble settling into Amanda’s large house, but Amanda decides she has made a mistake and plans to go home the next day. That night, Iris’ handsome book editor brother, Graham, drops by after drinking too much at the local pub and asks to spend the night. Amanda agrees and after they talk and Graham unexpectedly kisses her on the lips, Amanda suggests they have sex since she does not expect to see him ever again. The next morning, despite having enjoyed spending the night together, they go their separate ways. That evening Graham meets friends at the pub for dinner and sees Amanda there, having decided to stay.
Iris meets Arthur Abbott, Amanda’s elderly neighbor and an Oscar-winning screen writer from the Golden Age of Film. Over dinner, Iris tells him about her troubles with Jasper, and Arthur gives her a long list of movies with strong female characters to watch so she can become “the leading lady of her own life.” Iris convinces Arthur to be the keynote speaker at a Writers Guild of America West gala and exercises with him so he can walk on stage without his walker. She also befriends Miles, a colleague of Ethan’s who is dating aspiring actress Maggie. While at the video store looking for one of the movies on Arthur’s list, Miles catches Maggie with another man. Iris explains her troubles with Jasper and they have dinner together to bring each other’s spirits up for Christmas Eve.
Amanda opens up to Graham, telling him she hasn’t cried since her parents divorced when she was 15. She surprises him at his house and discovers he is a widower with two young daughters. He explains that he kept his daughters a secret because compartmentalizing his life helps him deal with the overwhelming responsibility of being a single working father and because he doesn’t want to bring a woman into the girls’ lives unless he is sure the relationship has a future. They begin to think their relationship is more complicated than they can handle.
On the day of the screenwriter’s gala, Maggie asks Miles to take her back, but he refuses. Jasper surprises Iris by showing up at Amanda’s house, but Iris, drawing on the example of the women from Arthur’s films, kicks him out. At the gala, Arthur succeeds in walking onstage unassisted and Miles asks Iris out on a date for New Years’ Eve. She agrees and kisses him. Meanwhile, Graham tells Amanda he has fallen in love with her and while she does not return the sentiment, they agree to try to make a long-distance relationship work. While heading to the airport, Amanda breaks down crying. She runs back to the cottage and she and Graham make plans to spend New Years’ Eve together with his daughters.
On New Years’ Eve, Iris, Amanda, Graham, Miles and Graham’s daughters all happily celebrate at Graham’s house.

Cast

Shannyn Sossamon appears as Maggie, Miles' girlfriend and aspiring actress, while Edward Burns plays as Ethan Ebbers, Amanda's boyfriend; Rufus Sewell portrays Jasper Bloom, Iris' on-and-off affair. The film also reunited Sewell and Sossamon as they both starred in A Knight's Tale together, although they do not share a scene. Extended Simpkins family include Miffy Englefield and Emma Pritchard as Sophie and Olivia, Graham's daughters, respectively. The film also cast Bill Macy as Ernie and Shelley Berman as Norman, friends of Arthur, as well as Kathryn Hahn as Bristol and John Krasinski as Ben, Amanda's employees. Jon Prescott appears as Maggie's short-time affair.
Dustin Hoffman appears in the video rental store in an uncredited cameo as Jack Black talks about the score from The Graduate. According to Hoffman, this was unscripted and unexpected. He was going to Blockbuster for a movie, saw all the light and came over to see what was going on. He knew director Nancy Meyers, who scripted a short scene with him in it.
Lindsay Lohan, who had made her motion picture debut in Meyers' remake of The Parent Trap, and James Franco, a friend of Meyers, make uncredited appearances in the trailer of the fictional movie Deception, which Amanda and her team finish at the beginning of The Holiday.

Production

Production on The Holiday began in Los Angeles, then moved to England for a month before completing filming back in California. Principal photography began in the Brentwood area on the Westside of Los Angeles, where real Santa Ana winds reportedly gave Meyers and her team a winter day as warm as scripted in the screenplay. Although Amanda's home is set in Brentwood, the exterior scenes at the gated property were actually filmed in front of Southern California architect Wallace Neff's Mission Revival house in San Marino, a suburb adjacent to Pasadena. Neff had built the house for his family in 1928. The interiors of Amanda's house were filmed at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City. Other Los Angeles locations included Arthur's house in Brentwood and Miles' house, designed by Richard Neutra, which is situated on Neutra Place in L.A.'s Silver Lake area, near downtown.
The UK part of the film was partially shot in Godalming and Shere, a town and village in the county of Surrey in South East England that dates back to the 11th century. The cottage's exterior was constructed in a field adjacent to St James's Church in Shere. The production team had sourced a genuine cottage but it was located a considerable distance from London, where the crew were based, so they opted to construct one for the purposes of filming. Filming began January 4, 2006 and concluded on June 15.

Reception

Box office

The film opened at number three on the United States box office, raking in $12,778,913 in the weekend of December 8, 2006. Altogether, The Holiday made $63 million at the North American domestic box office, and $142 million at the international box office. The film grossed a total of $205,135,175, worldwide, against a production budget of $85 million, and an estimated advertising spend of $34 million. The Holiday became the twelfth highest-grossing film of the 2000s to be helmed by a female director.

Critical response

The Holiday received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 49% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 156 reviews, with an average score of 5.67/10. Its consensus states "While it's certainly sweet and even somewhat touching, The Holiday is so thoroughly predictable that audiences may end up opting for an early check-out time." On Metacritic the film holds a 52/100 rating, based on 31 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
In her review for USA Today, Claudia Puig found that The Holiday "is a rare chick flick/romantic comedy that, despite its overt sentimentality and fairy-tale premise, doesn't feel cloyingly sweet." She felt that "much of the credit goes to inspired casting and the actors' chemistry." Carina Chocano, writing for the Los Angeles Times noted that "like a magic trick in reverse, The Holiday reveals the mechanics of the formula while trying to keep up the illusion. She complimented Winslet and Law's performances, but was critical toward Diaz, who she felt "strikes the off-note, but then you tend to think it's not her fault." Rex Reed from The New York Observer noted that "at least 90 percent of The Holiday is a stocking-stuffer from Tiffany's so loaded with charm that it makes you glow all over and puts a smile in your heart." While he felt that the final 15 minutes of film "diminish a lot of the film's good intentions," he added that Meyers "created some hearth-cozy situations, written some movie-parody zingers, and provided Eli Wallach with his best role in years."
Somewhat less enthusiastic, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly graded the film with a 'B–' rating, summing it as a "cookie-cutter chick flick." He concluded that "it's a self-consciously old-fashioned premise, with too much sub-Bridget Jones dithering, but Nancy Meyers' dialogue has a perky synthetic sheen." Justin Chang from Variety wrote that while "Meyers' characters tend to be more thoughtful and self-aware than most this overlong film isn't nearly as smart as it would like to appear, and it willingly succumbs to the very rom-com cliches it pretends to subvert." He added, that "in a spirited cast the Brits easily outshine their Yank counterparts. Winslet weeps and moans without sacrificing her radiance or aud's sympathy, while the marginally less teary-eyed Law effortlessly piles on the charm in a role that will have some amusing resonances for tabloid readers." Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle remarked that the film was "the most love-centric movie since Love Actually." She felt that The Holiday "has charming moments and a hopeful message for despondent singles, but it lacks the emotional resonance of Meyers' Something's Gotta Give and the zaniness of What Women Want. Clocking in at two hours and 16 minutes, Holiday is ridiculously long for a romantic comedy and would benefit from losing at least a half-hour."
Since its release, however, The Holiday has been labeled as a modern Christmas classic, as well as a cult classic.

Accolades

Soundtrack

The official soundtrack contains music by various artists, Heitor Pereira and Hans Zimmer, and is released on the Varèse Sarabande label.
  1. "Maestro" by Hans Zimmer - 3:53
  2. "Iris and Jasper" by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe - 3:24
  3. "Kayak for One" by Ryeland Allison - 1:30
  4. "Zero" by Hans Zimmer and Atli Örvarsson - 2:44
  5. "Dream Kitchen" by Hans Zimmer and Henry Jackman - 1:35
  6. "Separate Vacations" by Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe and Imogen Heap - 1:47
  7. "Anything Can Happen" by Hans Zimmer and Heitor Pereira - 0:48
  8. "Light My Fire" by Hans Zimmer - 1:14
  9. "Definitely Unexpected" by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe - 3:34
  10. "If I Wanted To Call You" by Hans Zimmer and Atli Örvarsson - 1:50
  11. "Roadside Rhapsody" by Hans Zimmer and Henry Jackman - 1:39
  12. "Busy Guy" by Hans Zimmer and Henry Jackman - 1:28
  13. "For Nancy" by Hans Zimmer, Atli Orvarsson and Lorne Balfe - 1:27
  14. "It's Complicated" by Hans Zimmer and Imogen Heap - 1:00
  15. "Kiss Goodbye" by Heitor Pereira and Herb Alpert - 2:33
  16. "Verso E Prosa" by Heitor Pereira - 1:59
  17. "Meu Passado" by Hans Zimmer, Henry Jackman and Lorne Balfe - 1:25
  18. "The 'Cowch'" by Hans Zimmer, Heitor Pereira, Lorne Balfe and Imogen Heap - 2:42
  19. "Three Musketeers" by Hans Zimmer, Heitor Pereira, Lorne Balfe and Imogen Heap - 2:44
  20. "Christmas Surprise" by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe - 2:32
  21. "Gumption" by Hans Zimmer, Atli Orvarsson and Henry Jackman - 3:45
  22. "Cry" by Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe and Heitor Pereira - 2:39
  23. "It's a Shame" by the Spinners
  24. "You Send Me" by Aretha Franklin