Review: 'The Holiday' no picnic

Posted Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 6:21 PM Central

by John Couture

Given Nancy Meyers' body of work, The Holiday shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was. Unfortunately, it's not one of those Santa surprised me the real present I wanted kind of surprises, more like one of those, all I got was this lousy lump of coal surprises.

I guess the real culprit to all of this dismay was Meyers' previous film Something's Gotta Give. Nancy Meyers is a chick flick specialist and being an XY kind of guy, most of her work is tough to stomach. But Something's Gotta Give was different. It seemed to overcome the traditional trappings of a "Chick Flick" and transcend to both genders.

So, I went into The Holiday with similar expectations and came out wishing that I would have been more prudent with my film selection. It's not to say that The Holiday is bad, on the contrary, my wife loved it. But, it's not what you think it is and for the most part it's hard to watch.

The main culprit of the movie's demise is the lead, Cameron Diaz. To say that she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag would be generous. Put up against such a formidable cast as she is in this film, her lack of acting prowess sticks out like a sore thumb.

Again, those looking for a light-hearted romantic comedy with a liberal dose of suspension of disbelief will be happy. Anyone with a pulse and a desire for something more will come away lacking.

The overall experience might be forgivable if say the DVD was chock full of special features and deleted scenes, but in the end, there's only a rather boring audio commentary and a making of feature.

Save yourself some pain and please do not buy this disc, but it is worthy of a rental. Especially if date is coming up and you happen to be in the doghouse.