Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 53 Ratings

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 31
  2. Negative: 2 out of 31
  1. Reviewed by: Stephen Saito
    88
    The Holiday is the type of welcome diversion that only Meyers still seems to specialize -- a romantic comedy where Barbara Stanwyck and Rosalind Russell would have been just as natural as Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet and where the one liners fly like confetti.
  2. 75
    This melding of comedic minds is one of the better holiday gifts we've received, cinematically speaking.
  3. Reviewed by: William Thomas
    60
    There is bound to be a large appreciative audience for this chick flick. But it might not be you.
  4. 25
    Even with a wild card like Black desperately retooling his lines, there's nothing authentic or personal about The Holiday--it's as chilling as heart-warmers get.

See all 31 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 22
  2. Negative: 4 out of 22
  1. AmandaS.
    10
    This movie was a true love story. it appealed to a real audience and it touched me in place that most others fail to reach.
  2. CurtisS.
    8
    I am not ashamed to admit that I enjoy a good chick-flick. And this is a good one. Not great. But very good. (To give you some idea of scale, 1982's AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, 1983's TERMS OF ENDEARMENT and 1942's CASABLANCA are ~great~ chick-flicks--great movies.) Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Jack Black star in THE HOLIDAY. The movie is about two women who trade houses, (one in L.A. and one in England), and get romantically involved with men they meet there. A guy who looks like Jack Black gives most normal guys false movie-hope that they could ever date a girl who looks like Kate Winslet... But, Jack is funny. He writes movie music--and no one seems to notice that movie soundtracks to romantic comedies are not written by women. Ever. But women do direct beautiful movies on occasion. (Nora Ephron, for example.) At 136 minutes, director Nancy Meyers' film is not too long. It's just that I wish the emotional payoff at the end were a whole lot stronger. Of course, there is the Hollywood-obligatory (and always premature) fornication. Actually, love stories on film are traditionally a protracted exercise in longing. Usually, once the two declare their love for each other and kiss, the credits roll. I would like to have seen more scenes of the the relationship between Jack and Kate. The film includes impossibly beautiful shots of the English countryside. If you want to redecorate your house and make it look like happiness incarnate, this is the film to see. Making one of the men a book editor and the other man a film-score composer and one of the women a film-trailer producer adds to the movie-romance homage. There is even a great scene in a Blockbuster movie store where Jack is commenting on movies, (tangentially reprising his role for a moment from HIGH FIDELITY). The camera briefly shows us that one of the stars from one of the classic movies Jack is praising is in the store next to them, and this person overhears him. This is a beautiful romance feel-good movie with a lot of class, kindness and beauty. While not an emotional powerhouse, I do recommend it. My rating: 8.2 out of 10. C The most important truths: "...the Word (Jesus) was God..." "...the Word (Jesus) became flesh..." >>John 1:1;14. "He who believes in the Son (Jesus) *has* everlasting life; and He who does not believe the Son (Jesus) shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." >>John 3:36. For by *grace* you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the *gift* of God, *not* of works, lest anyone should boast. >>Ephesians 2:8,9. Believe in Jesus: that He is God, that He suffered and died on the cross for all of your sins: past, present and future; that He was buried, that He physically rose from death on the third day--and you will be immediately forgiven, saved forever, and go to Heaven the minute you die. *** Please check out my blog site, which is frequently updated: http://believersworldview.blogstream.com Expand
  3. ReidF.
    7
    This film includes a witty script by director Nancy Meyers and good performances by Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Cameron Diaz. But the movie is stolen by the unlikely duo of Jack Black and 91-year-old Eli Wallach. Collapse
  4. 4
    This movie was way to sappy. It was too much of a romantic story that could have branched off. Kate Winslet and jack Black's story line as far more interesting than the other side. Expand

See all 22 User Reviews

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