Review of Holidays (2016) by Matt G — 29 Oct 2016

It's an anthology film, you know the drill. Some segments are good, some not so good, some are just downright bad. To get it out of the way, you can just go ahead and skip Kevin Smith's contribution on Halloween.

It's a painful attempt at girl power that barely has anything to do with the actual holiday aside from featuring girls in costumes. Then there's segments like Easter and Saint Patrick's Day that have some really clever ideas and a celebration of the holiday, but they don't quite know how to execute them and the results are more just weird than clever or scary.

Still, even the lesser segment still have some chills and creativity to them (except Halloween, which is just unforgivably shitty), and there are a couple like New Years Eve and Christmas that are quite a lot of fun.

The highlight of the film though is Father's day, which is emotional and brilliant. It uses some clever filming techniques with a girl visiting a place she went to as a child while listening to a tape of her visit there as a child which merges the past and present in some interesting ways, and an emotional heft to the whole thing that creates a great sense of tension.

Still, even Father's Day has an ending that leaves something to be desired, like they had a really good idea but weren't sure how to close it. Holidays is full of great ideas that aren't always executed in the best way.

It's ambitious, and most of the directors clearly have a great deal of talent, but I wish there stories had been thought through more. It leaves something to be desired, but what you get is still worth a look.