The Holiday (2006)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Adam K

  
  Despite initial reservations about any romantic comedy, especially one comprising Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, I was pleasantly and gladly surprised by this light humoured, touching film, directed and written by Nancy Meyer. Telling the story of two women who swap houses, one in… More
  Despite initial reservations about any romantic comedy, especially one comprising Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, I was pleasantly and gladly surprised by this light humoured, touching film, directed and written by Nancy Meyer. Telling the story of two women who swap houses, one in Britain, one in the US, to escape love and men, they eventually find themselves falling in love with those closet to the woman's house they are living in. The plot itself is simple. So simple, that any average filmgoer will work out the ending before they have finished reading the blurb on the back of the DVD case. But despite this, "The Holiday" combines a touching, and although the phrase is perhaps the most over-used and cheesy, "heart-warming" event. The script is nothing clever, and the camera work is average. The acting is as expected and the humour silly and a times embarrassing for the viewer. Despite all this, throughout the film, you feel yourself slowing growing more attached to the characters, even though, in my personal case, I didn't want to. Jack Black is perhaps the funniest of the four. His good acting skills are often forgotten amongst his other starring roles as pandas, but his chemistry with Kate Winslet is excellent, and although he plays himself, as always he plays it very well. It would be silly to say that there is anything special about "The Holiday" but, unlike the majority of rom-coms, it does have a special quality. A quality which sets it above the rest, as the audience connect with all of the characters in a unique and individual way, whilst enjoying the kind, gentle, but nice and touching story which "The Holiday" delivers.

• Candy R

  
  Two women are fed up with the men in their lives. They decide to swap homes and lives for the Christmas holidays. Cameron moves to London and Kate moves to Los Angeles. When they least expect it they meet their perfect match on the other side of the world. Good rom com. I love Cameron… More
  Two women are fed up with the men in their lives. They decide to swap homes and lives for the Christmas holidays. Cameron moves to London and Kate moves to Los Angeles. When they least expect it they meet their perfect match on the other side of the world. Good rom com. I love Cameron and Kate as I think they are great actresses. I don't really like Jude or Jack as actors but their characters are okay in this movie.

• Alexander D

  
  Jack Black surprised me at how terrible he could make his humor. THE HOLIDAY was not one of the romcoms that I like.

• Jeff "

  
  Wow, simply wow. This film was bad. Getting my wisdom teeth extracted was enjoyable than this (and I had five yanked out). The Holiday is a total mess of a film. There are three talented actors here; Jude Law, Eli Wallach and Kate Winslet, and the rest are crap. Not even Eli Wallach… More
  Wow, simply wow. This film was bad. Getting my wisdom teeth extracted was enjoyable than this (and I had five yanked out). The Holiday is a total mess of a film. There are three talented actors here; Jude Law, Eli Wallach and Kate Winslet, and the rest are crap. Not even Eli Wallach could save this film. This film was a horrid mess of a film, and the story was terrible, I hated this film, and it's the type of film that you wished could be unmade, kind of like Juno, which was terrible beyond belief. The Holiday is a pointless excuse of a film, and it doesn't work. The film fails to entertain, and provide you with anything interesting. The film is filled with clichés that we've seen a hundred times before. Did I mention that the rest of the cast aside from the three I mentioned, are terrible. The Holiday is one of the worst films that I've seen, and there's nothing going on for. The film doesn't work whatsoever and it just ends up being boring. Really boring in fact. I don't know how I was able to finish this dreadful film, as I could've walked away, but I didn't because I told myself that it would get interesting. It didn't an awful film that you want to forget, The Holiday is simply put a waste of time, I've never hated a film this until Juno and Passchendaele. I thought this was a film that missed the mark and it definitely is a film to avoid. A terrible cast and not even the good actors could save this train wreck. Avoid this film, the script, story and acting was terrible. There's nothing good to be had in this film.

• Bethany M

  
  A great feel good Christmas film!

• Dean !

  
  A great romantic comedy. One of the best I've seen right up there with Love Actually. It has a great cast and just has a quality feel about the whole film. A very entertaining feel good film. So if you normally avoid rom-coms you may have missed out on this little gem.

• Brad W

  
  This has a potential plot and great actors, but I just felt bored out of my mind.

• Dead A

  
  Loved this. Good story and the acting. All the characters did very well (except Jack Miles - man I hate this guy's pathetic acting).

• Cassie H

  
  Funny, Sweet and Romantic. The characters roles are wonderful!!! :) I love this movie :) I love it so much! :)

• Fernando Rafael Q

  
  I'm a sucker for a Nancy Meyers film. There's truly not another current filmmaker that can make a romantic comedy as well as she can. Her movies are light and strikingly beautiful from top to bottom. Plus, she knows how to assemble a great cast. That's exactly what she… More
  I'm a sucker for a Nancy Meyers film. There's truly not another current filmmaker that can make a romantic comedy as well as she can. Her movies are light and strikingly beautiful from top to bottom. Plus, she knows how to assemble a great cast. That's exactly what she did with The Holiday, where Cameron Diaz is her usual bubbly self, Jack Black is (at last) tolerable and brits Jude Law and Kate Winslet are stellar, especially the latter. Despite the fact that she has less screen-time than Diaz or Law, this is Kate Winslet's movie. Meryl Streep for the Internet generation, Winslet is an exciting, gorgeous and supremely talented leading lady. As per usual with Meyers, the choice of music and the visuals are excellent. The Holiday has "cute" written all over it but, in this case, it's actually a good thing.

• Jens S

  
  This romantic comedy about two women switching houses for two weeks during the holidays to get away from everything starts out really awfully. First it suggests to play in a similar league as "Love actually", a contest The Holiday could only lose. Then Cameron Diaz is at her… More
  This romantic comedy about two women switching houses for two weeks during the holidays to get away from everything starts out really awfully. First it suggests to play in a similar league as "Love actually", a contest The Holiday could only lose. Then Cameron Diaz is at her most irritating, displaying an incredibly annoying character. That changes for the better once the incredibly charming Jude Law shows up. Winslett's side of the story takes a little longer to take a direction, but her friendship with the old Eli Wallach is actually really sweet. While not exactly very funny, except for a few typical Jack Black scenes, the film still produces a certain charm that is hard to escape, especially around this time of the year. Even Diaz manages to redeem herself in the end and the movie leaves you with a smile on your face, which is probably all that it set out to do.

• KJ P

  
  A charming, funny, and heartwarming Holiday film about two completely opposite people who want to get away from themselves and end up finding what they were never truly in pursuit for. With a talented cast and an actually believable storyline, The Holiday is a truly great film. There… More
  A charming, funny, and heartwarming Holiday film about two completely opposite people who want to get away from themselves and end up finding what they were never truly in pursuit for. With a talented cast and an actually believable storyline, The Holiday is a truly great film. There are very few great new age christmas movies, which is why this is one of my favourites of this decade. The Holiday rocks!

• Jameson W

  
  Yes, I really do like this movie alot!

• Mark H

  
  Glossy romantic comedy features two women who swap homes temporarily, one in England the other in LA. What happens to British Iris in the US is far more compelling than what happens to American Amanda in England. Credit goes to Kate Winslet for her engaging performance. She… More
  Glossy romantic comedy features two women who swap homes temporarily, one in England the other in LA. What happens to British Iris in the US is far more compelling than what happens to American Amanda in England. Credit goes to Kate Winslet for her engaging performance. She elevates everyone around her. Even Eli Wallach seems magnetic as a screenwriter from Hollywood's golden age. Unfortunately, the trite story is too formulaic to be interesting. Comedy-drama feels more like a product being marketed and sold by a Hollywood factory that anything bearing genuine warmth and emotion. Cameron Diaz is particularly cloying. She makes goo-goo eyes and talks in her cutest voice that says "love me because I?m so pretty", but really comes across a snoozy bore. Half of a good movie. I see no justification for that overindulgent 2 hour and 16 minute running time either.

• Lady D

  
  Ok, I?m not known to be the girliest of girls, nor am I often associated with Romantic Comedies or chick Flicks, yet this one seemed to be mildly amusing. It has to be said that Cameron Diaz was a little annoying and over the top, which is usually Jack Black?s job, however I found… More
  Ok, I?m not known to be the girliest of girls, nor am I often associated with Romantic Comedies or chick Flicks, yet this one seemed to be mildly amusing. It has to be said that Cameron Diaz was a little annoying and over the top, which is usually Jack Black?s job, however I found this to be one of his better toned down roles. I must be softening a tad because I did like Jude Law in this. Everything about this film was predictable, stereotypical and cheesy and yet somehow (more in the second half of the film) it was entertaining.

• Flutie A

  
  The cameo by Dustin Hoffman alone makes this worth checking out...Jack Black is actually pretty hilarious, and there's even a quick cameo from John Kraskinski of "The Office"....

• Richard C

  
  it's not a good movie it's cliche and not really funny but I've seen worse. C-

• Anthony L

  
  The script is horrible, the story is unimaginative and silly, the performances are embarrassing and after a sadistic 138 minutes there isn't even a bloody conclusion! This was a hard film to get through, it's actually quite insulting and astonishing that a) The film got… More
  The script is horrible, the story is unimaginative and silly, the performances are embarrassing and after a sadistic 138 minutes there isn't even a bloody conclusion! This was a hard film to get through, it's actually quite insulting and astonishing that a) The film got green-lit and b) some people actually liked it! Nancy Meyers makes horrible films and Joe Hutshing needs to wake up and get cutting!

• ♥Robyn

  
  The Holiday is a sweet romantic comedy featuring pretty people, pretty houses, and pretty decent acting!!!!

• Lanning :

  
  Flixster, my site of all sites, you give Kate Winslet fifth billing on the Flixster summary? Darn, friends, she works at least as hard as any of the other happy actors who have the misfortune of appearing in this film. I'm sad about that. Did I miss it, or did Jack Black win a… More
  Flixster, my site of all sites, you give Kate Winslet fifth billing on the Flixster summary? Darn, friends, she works at least as hard as any of the other happy actors who have the misfortune of appearing in this film. I'm sad about that. Did I miss it, or did Jack Black win a best actor Oscar for this one? <p> Flixsters, is it me, or does Kate Winslet get better looking every year? Want to answer that question? If so, that would be the very one and only borating reason for seeing this winner. As my friend Gwen would say, this movie is really dumb. <p>But Kate, you rock my socks! Two stars for the wardrobe stimulation : )

Read all 20 featured audience ratings