Review of The Holiday (2006) by Holly E — 20 Jul 2011

Kate Winslet surprised me greatly, considering I had never seen her play a comedic role before, but she was brilliant as the emotionally broken but kind and intelligent Iris Simpkins. Jack Black was also pleasantly funny, but not in his usual manner: this time, his humor mainly came from being quirky, slightly awkward but still charming, and it was great to see him play someone more down to earth.

The three biggest problems that I had with the film were: Cameron Diaz, Edward Burns, and the writing, As the uptight workaholic Amanda, you see more of Cameron than Amanda--her acting performance reminds you much of other roles she has played, and there were some highly misplaced emotions that went with a lot of her moments. The trying to cry but failing part? Absolutely ridiculous looking and over the top! Even though that part was probably supposed to get a laugh, I found it annoying. Edward Burns, as Amanda's ex-boyfriend, Ethan, was AWFUL, had absolutely no interesting emotional thought in his character, and has this incredibly whiny voice that didn't fit at all, Maybe that's why he only showed up for 7 minutes of the movie. I loved the writing for Kate Winslet's scenes; however, I feel that when it came to Cameron Diaz, the writers slacked off a little. Her words felt very "delivered" (much like a student trying to make sure they get their lines correct), and some very bad lines such as "You did say you loved me, so I guess I've got a date" were just tossed like they were nothing.

Watch the movie for Kate and Jack's brilliant chemistry, though--it's a complete surprise how well they actually get on with one another.