Holidate Movie Review
JETER: Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, Andrew Bachelor, Jessica Capshaw, Manish Dayal, Alex Moffat, Jake Manley, Cynthy Wu, Frances Fisher, Kristin Chenoweth
DIRECTION: Jean Whitesell
GENRE: Comédie
DURÉE: 1 heures 43 minutes
The first thing you notice about Holidate is people flocking to malls, restaurants, around swimming pools, generally having a good time mask-free. People enjoying holidays with their loved ones without worrying about the world. You instantly feel nostalgic for a world where such things were possible without the constant danger of being infected with the dreaded coronavirus. The film's central theme revolves around two young, beautiful people who can't find a date for the holidays - hence Holidate. Given today's reality, you don't feel at all sympathetic to their predicament. You want to butt heads and warn them about the scenario in the near future where relationships would come under different kinds of strains. Real-world issues aside, we've seen this particular conceit in plenty of movies before. Two people pretending to be a couple in order to satisfy their families — here, it's just the girl's family in particular — has been a Hollywood staple for ages. So you can spot twists a mile away. The couple will live in denial of their attraction for some time before invariably descending into lust. There is nothing new here. The only real twist is that they meet at Christmas and agree to be each other's dates for the rest of the upcoming year's holidays and have no connection with each other on other days. Sounds a little weird, okay. There is nothing new here. The only real twist is that they meet at Christmas and agree to be each other's dates for the rest of the upcoming year's holidays and have no connection with each other on other days. Sounds a little weird, okay. There is nothing new here. The only real twist is that they meet at Christmas and agree to be each other's dates for the rest of the upcoming year's holidays and have no connection with each other on other days. Sounds a little weird, okay.
Sloane (Emma Roberts) meets handsome Aussie Jackson (Luke Bracey) in a mall while exchanging Christmas presents. They soon talk to each other and agree to become each other's non-sexual dates for New Years and later, for the rest of the holiday schedule. They end up having mishaps - she swallows too many laxatives and has to be taken home to the bathroom, he gets his finger cut off. These and other miscellaneous gags were used in the film to make people laugh. The film also uses a lot of profanity and puts inappropriate words in children's mouths to make you laugh. All that's missing is canned laughter in the background. From the beginning, they sort of made a pact not to sleep together. Therefore, both are afraid to take the relationship further even when they feel some kind of connection. They don't want to confess their true feelings to each other. That they succumb to attraction and become partners in the truest sense of the word is the heart of the film.
Holidate is made up of a supporting cast whose sole purpose in life is to hook Sloane. Her mother, her sister, her aunt and even her brother want her to get married and have children. It's unclear why this pretty young lady is actually single. She is extremely commitment phobic, but we don't know why. It's also not made clear why Jackson is single either. He's not even shown to be a skirt chaser and comes across as a pretty decent guy. But we don't know his story.
The film tries too hard to be a parody of romantic comedies. That may have been the general idea initially, but the director apparently lost touch as the film progressed. He begins to take himself too seriously and it is his downfall. The only saving grace in this silly comedy is the chemistry between the lead couple. Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey both deserve a better romance than this to show just how good they can be together. They're trying hard to keep it procedural, but the superficial story and script are really hampering their efforts.
In summary, Holidate can just remind you how good your boring daily life was before the pandemic and make you nostalgic for family gatherings, roaming malls, earring and wearing masks only at costume parties. Other than that, this rom-com is strictly for hardcore fans of the genre who don't want to miss such a release.
TRAILER: HOLIDATE
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