The Holiday
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010) |
| The Holiday | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Nancy Meyers |
| Produced by | Nancy Meyers |
| Written by | Nancy Meyers |
| Starring | Cameron Diaz Kate Winslet Jude Law Jack Black Eli Wallach Edward Burns Rufus Sewell Shannyn Sossamon Bill Macy Shelley Berman Jon Prescott Jay Simpson Dustin Hoffman |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
| Editing by | Joe Hutshing |
| Distributed by | North America Columbia Pictures International Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | December 8, 2006 |
| Running time | 138 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85 million |
| Gross revenue | $205,135,175 (Worldwide) |
The Holiday is a 2006 American romantic comedy film distributed by Columbia Pictures in the US and Universal Studios outside the US, starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black. The story involves two strangers who agree to swap homes temporarily.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The two main characters are Amanda, a highly successful editor of movie trailers in Los Angeles, and Iris, a lovesick society column editor for The Daily Telegraph in England. The story is set in motion when each of them suffers a heartache: Amanda discovers that her boyfriend has cheated on her, while the object of Iris' unrequited love announces his engagement at the office Christmas party. Seeking an escape, Iris proposes the home swap on the internet, posting an ad about her quaint cottage in the English countryside. Her offer is eagerly accepted by Amanda, who lives in a luxurious home in L.A. but is stressed over her break-up. (There are also hints that Amanda is a workaholic; there is a running gag that she imagines her life as being narrated by movie trailer narrator Hal Douglas.)
At first, the swap seems uneven; Iris revels in the luxury of Amanda's L.A. home, while Amanda suffers a series of disappointments in Surrey. Things turn around for Amanda when she meets Iris' brother Graham. Both Amanda and Graham intend to have an one-night stand, but a romance develops.
Meanwhile, Iris befriends movie composer Miles and elderly Arthur Abbott; Arthur, it turns out, worked as a screenwriter during the Golden Age of Hollywood. The friendship between Iris and Miles turns romantic after Miles learns of his girlfriend's infidelity.
[edit] Cast
- Cameron Diaz as Amanda Woods
- Kate Winslet as Iris Simpkins
- Jude Law as Graham Simpkins
- Jack Black as Miles Dumont
- Eli Wallach as Arthur Abbott
- Edward Burns as Ethan Ebbers
- Rufus Sewell as Jasper Bloom
- Miffy Englefield as Sophie
- Emma Pritchard as Olivia
- Sarah Parish as Hannah
- Shannyn Sossamon as Maggie
- Bill Macy as Ernie
- Shelley Berman as Norman
- Kathryn Hahn as Bristol
- John Krasinski as Ben
- Jon Prescott as Maggie's Boyfriend
- Leanne Wilson as Nancy Myers
- Alex O'Loughlin as Kissing Couple
- Odette Yustman as Kissing Couple
- Bundle Williams as Girl in Pub
[edit] Cameos
- Dustin Hoffman appears in the video rental store in an uncredited cameo as Jack Black talks about the score from The Graduate. According to Hoffman, this was unscripted and unexpected. He was going to Blockbuster for a movie, saw all the light and came over to see what was going on. He knew director Nancy Meyers, who scripted a scene with him in it.
- Lindsay Lohan and James Franco make uncredited appearances in the movie trailer Cameron Diaz's character is working on.
[edit] Production
[edit] Location
The film was partially filmed in Los Angeles, Godalming, Surrey and the nearby villages of Wonersh and Shere. Exterior scenes of the house of Cameron Diaz's character in the film were shot in San Marino, California. The interior sets for Amanda's house were built on a sound stage and cost approximately $1 million, without exterior walls, a roof, plumbing, heating and electricity.[citation needed]
The first location that Cameron Diaz's character clicks on for a vacation location - The Cotswolds - is the region in which Kate Winslet lives in real life.
[edit] Soundtrack
The official soundtrack contains music by various artists, Heitor Pereira and Hans Zimmer, and is released on the Varese Sarabande label.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Box office
The film grossed $205,135,175, worldwide, and is considered a financial success.[citation needed] According to Box Office Mojo The Holiday made just over $200,000,000 gross at the global box office, $63,000,000 of which in the United States and Canada.[1]
[edit] Critical response
The critical consensus was that "while sweet and somewhat touching, lacks any surprises and eventually overstays its welcome" with Rotten Tomatoes giving it 46% based on 130 reviews.[2] Metacritic gave the film a rating of 52% based on 31 selected critics, based on what it called mixed or average reviews.
[edit] Goofs
The Union Flag is erroneously shown as being the flag of England.[3]
In one scene, Amanda is sitting in bed watching Little Britain on BBC1 when an advertisement comes on. However, the BBC is publicly-funded, and therefore does not air advertisements. On the other hand, the BBC-owned TV station UKTV does.
When Iris (Kate Winslet) is driving Arthur (Eli Wallach) home, he asks her what part of England she is from. She says "Surrey", to which he replies "Cary Grant was from Surrey" and explains he knows this because Cary Grant told him once. He was actually from Bristol, some 100 miles to the west of Surrey.
[edit] Trivia
 |
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2010) |
- In the video rental store, Miles (Jack Black) sings the theme tune of Driving Miss Daisy by "Hans". Hans Zimmer also composed and produced the score for The Holiday. Jack Black later spoofed the movie in Be Kind, Rewind.
- Eli Wallach's character Arthur Abbott (a Hollywood screenwriter) described a meet-cute by saying "Say a man and a woman both need something to sleep in and both go to the same men's pajama department. The man says to the salesman, I just need bottoms, and the woman says, I just need a top. They look at each other and that's the meet-cute." It's a reference to the film Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) by Ernst Lubitsch with Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper, and the writers Charlton Andrews, Charles Brackett, Alfred Savoir and Billy Wilder.[4]
- The movie Iris chooses when looking through Amanda's DVDs is Punch-Drunk Love, the Two Disc Special Edition.[5]
- The classic movie that Kate Winslet is watching - after Arthur Abbott's (Eli Wallach) recommendation - is His Girl Friday, a 1940 screwball comedy starring Cary Grant as a newspaper editor who attempts to keep his ex-wife and fellow reporter (played by Rosalind Russell) from marrying someone else.
- According to a radio interview on BBC Radio 1, the song "Kill the Director" by The Wombats was written about this film . From the lyrics "this is no Bridget Jones" and according to the radio interview, they hated the film, and hence decided to write a song about it.[citation needed]
- The song "Star Girl" by the British-Pop band McFly was played in the background of the movie for advertisement for the band.
- The first location that Cameron Diaz's character clicks on for a vacation location - The Cotswolds - is the region in which Kate Winslet lives in real life.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Holiday at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009.
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_holiday/
- ^ The Holiday, video at 6min 18sec
- ^ Movie connections at IMDb
- ^ Punch-Drunk Love at IMDb
[edit] External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Holiday |
- Official site
- The Holiday at the Internet Movie Database
- The Holiday at Allmovie
- The Holiday at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Holiday at Box Office Mojo
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||
