Movie Review: Holidate

Cast

Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, Jessica Capshaw, Manish Dayal, King Bach, Kristin Chenoweth.

Christmas holiday is around the corner, and by around the corner, I mean four to five weeks away. Nevertheless, people around the world have taken to Christmas shopping; getting trees, decorations and date; not a date, calendar. A date, person.

Yeah, a date.

The Netflix movie, holidate, is a romantic holiday movie about- love. 

Spoilers or no spoilers? Let's try no spoilers.

The movie stars a man (Luke) and a woman (Emma), traditionally, searching for a non-committal relationship. (Very original).

The woman's mother and relatives shun her at every single holiday she spends with them. Talk about a supportive family.

No one shuns the guy, but boy does he want out of anything serious. He totally wants a pass on the whole love and mushy feelings and simply wants company. I guess.

Imagine if you could have one person you're not tied to, you don't need to call or send a good morning sweetheart, or buy any gifts, except on holidays. And I mean all holidays: New Year's, Valentine's, St Patrick's, Independence', Labour Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, New Year's eve and every other holiday you can think of.

For me, it was a bit of a cliché. Man meets woman, they agree on a non-commitment relationship (alias friends with benefit) and plan to stay friends.

One person has a change of heart, the other is confused, one thing leads to another, and there's a public rendition and apology, hugs, kisses, true love. You see, cliche. We've seen this over and over again. 

The major difference between Holidate and every other rom-com in the world is the name. I know, it's a bit harsh, but it's the truth.

The added bit about a married mum, with kids, who wants to rekindle her single years because her husband is too boring, didn't help the story so much.

How about the crazy aunt who's old and single and doesn't care much about other people's opinion? Check.

It was satisfying. Honestly. The acting was hilarious without meaning to. It wasn't so forced, and you could feel the actors, acting, naturally.

Oh, and that itsy-bitsy part about Ryan Gosling. Wow. 'He's too cool to do his shopping'.

Holidate is a promising watch. It's relaxing, entertaining, no much suspense, actually, no suspense at all. There's no death, no scare, and just minor sadness. 

You don't need to puzzle anything together. Just get your lazy chair, grab a popcorn and watch with friends so you'll argue over who breaks the rules in a "friends with benefit situation".

Personal rating: 6/10.