The Holiday


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An All Time Favorite Holiday Film!

Amanda Woods(Cameron Diaz) and Iris Simpkins(Kate Winslet) are two women unlucky in love.  But it’s the Holidays and both women decide to do a house exchange, Amanda will stay at Iris’ cottage in England, and Iris at Amanda’s house in Los Angeles.  Over the next fourteen days Amanda will learn to relax, unwind and fall madly in love with Iris’ brother Graham (Jude Law).  Iris on the other hand will find her long-lost self-esteem, befriend her 90-year-old neighbor, and fall madly in love with Amanda’s friend Miles (Jack Black). But what happens after their two weeks’ escape into love comes to an end? Take a short Holiday to find out!

Every year around this time I have a list of all time favorite Christmas movies that I only watch during the 5-6 weeks preceding Christmas.  At the very top of this list is The Holiday. Don’t judge me! Here’s the deal.  The Holiday is a multi-story movie, not something new to us (Love Actually, Valentine’s Day, etc.) except that it’s only two stories to keep track of so each one has enough screen time to develop plot, character, emotion, tension, love, and some actual substance.  Cameron Diaz does a pretty good job but I won’t deny at times her character/acting annoyed me, luckily her love interest Jude Law pulls out a phenomenal acting job and saves that side of the love story.  Kate Winslet and Jack Black are simply adorable! Call me a sap but her story of falling for a guy that doesn’t love her back, and then blindly finding a guy that treats her like a queen? Ohhh, be still my heart! Definitely a movie meant for a girl’s night in though, I know this because every Christmas that I watch it my husband not so subtly rolls his eyes and says, “We still own that movie…?” 

Motherly Advice: If you plan on watching The Holiday with ages 13 and younger, I would highly recommend putting your filters on High.  I did and though I got annoyed at all of the obvious language bleeps, I was glad and also realized how many swear words and religious expletives there are in this movie.  ClearPlay also filters out a few, not all, make-out scenes that perhaps get a little too mushy, as well as one “leading up to sex” scene. The only scene that shows some immodesty is when Jude Law and Cameron Diaz are laying in bed talking and you see his bare chest and she is wearing a pretty skimpy camisole.  Even Kate Winslet goes swimming and wears a one-piece Speedo! Huge Points for that!  Throughout the film you’ll see a lot of drinking, talking about alcohol, seeing the lead characters drunk, or talking about wanting to be drunk. So again if you want to watch an adorable Holiday movie with two endearing love stories, tune into The Holiday and with your filters on High, you can even watch it with your pre-teens!

Trisha~ Favorite scene is when Jude Law admits to being a “Weepah”.

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