The Holiday (DVD)

Available from	£3.81	Compare 7 prices
User rating		48 Reviews
Ciao Ranking	See Top 10 for this category

	Offers for The Holiday (DVD)

User Reviews

for The Holiday (DVD)

Rating Summary based on 48 reviews

		16

		24

		7

		1

		0

Detailed rating

Characters / Performances
Did you enjoy it?
How does it compare to others by the same director?
How does it compare to similar films?
Soundtrack

	4.2

	4.4

	3.0

	4.1

	3.9

Review attribute filters

Page 1 of 5 | 1 to 10 out of 48 Review(s)

Show most helpful reviews first
Newest first

74 of 74 Ciao users found the following review helpful

venice105

Member since 15/02/2006

Reviews written: 51

The Holiday, It's Surprisingly Good!
Review with images
03/01/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages Highly enjoyable "rom-com"
Disadvantages hmm...can't think of any!

I went to see the romantic comedy The Holiday with fairly low expectations as the genre is very hit or miss for me. Whenever I see a trailer for a new "rom-com" as they are sometimes called nowadays, my heart does a simultaneous leap and lurch movement. I love many films that have made this Hollywood genre become such a staple in recent years. But for every Sleepless in Seattle or Bridget Jones' Diary, there is some wishy-washy yawn fest with Goldie Hawn's daughter or god forbid, Jennifer Lopez. I get really annoyed by how lazily bad some of these films are. So when I first saw a trailer for ... more
37 of 37 Ciao users found the following review helpful

Pmshack99

Member since 01/04/2002

Reviews written: 488

***XMAS REVIEW*** A FESTIVE BREAK 18/12/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages funny, sweet, romantic, an interesting premise
Disadvantages mixed bag of performances, perhaps too cheesy at times?

When I first saw the trailers for "The Holiday" prior to its cinema release in 2006, I actually had just read a book called "Lifeswap" by Jane Green, about two women on either side of the Atlantic who swapped houses and lives - I thought this film was an adaptation of that book. After reading a couple of reviews of it at the time, I quickly realised it wasn't, but the premise of it was similar enough to intrigue me further, as well as the fact that it had a fairly impressive cast. However, it wasn't until October of this that I finally got around to watching it. This, like "Home Alone" is ... more
59 of 59 Ciao users found the following review helpful

Andy.mack

Member since 29/08/2002

Reviews written: 899

Well, Hello Big Dollop! 08/05/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages Characters fit the roles, decent plot, decent direction
Disadvantages Could have done with being a little bit shorter

I’m not normally a fan of romantic comedies. Yes I will watch them but only on the odd occasion and there has to really be something appealing about them. So it was strange when I sat down to watch The Holiday on Sunday night that I was doing it purely on the recommendation of my ex girlfriend. As we’d had pretty similar taste in movies I thought there was a good chance I would enjoy The Holiday. It never really appealed to me while it was at the cinema but I decided that I wanted something simple to watch on Sunday night and thought I’d give it a try. Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate ... more
53 of 53 Ciao users found the following review helpful

Soho_Black

Member since 30/08/2002

Reviews written: 516

Happy Holidays! 19/04/2011

User recommends the product

Advantages Some amusing lines and decent performances
Disadvantages Christmas soundtrack doesn't work so well in Summer

I first saw "The Holiday" one Christmas with a girlfriend and her family and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. This may have been helped by going into it with low expectations, as I'm not really a romantic film type of person, but everyone watching seemed to enjoy it. Recently, I had the chance to see it again and it's still an enjoyable film, although it doesn't work quite so well out of context. "The Holiday" follows five people who are single, or about to be, around Christmas. Iris Simpkins is in love with a man who has just announced his engagement to someone else. On the other side ... more
25 of 25 Ciao users found the following review helpful

JayHall1991

Member since 28/04/2004

Reviews written: 209

Sweet Escape, Sweet Escape 02/12/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages Romantic, Looks Great, Good Premise, Some Good Performances
Disadvantages Silly, Diaz hams It Up Royally, Lazilly Plotted

Iris Simpkins writes a wedding column for a British newspaper, mainly covering the weddings of the famous and up and coming. With Christmas coming around she is busy and her ex lovers, whom she still loves and hasn't moved on from, upcoming marriage to a co worker doesn't help. Living alone in the English countryside encourages her to get on the internet and look for vacation hotshots were she can get away and recover. Whilst searching she finds out about a house exchange programme, an idea which intrigues her. In LA Amanda Wood is dealing with her cheating boyfriend and facing up to her ... more
66 of 66 Ciao users found the following review helpful

phoenixgreen

Member since 17/07/2006

Reviews written: 148

Sleigh Bells Ring....(Save it for Christmas!) 17/09/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages Funny, sweet, sad in places but FULL of Romance!!!!
Disadvantages Hmm. Wish I'd watched it at christmas.

The Holiday (2006) All this waiting around to go into labour has to be spent doing something, and the something I've spent most of it doing (not including sleeping, you understand, which I have become quite amazingly good at doing at all the wring times of day…) is watching films. The latest in this long line of consumed movies is this rather romantic, humorous, and quite, well, seasonal, in a Christmassie sort of way film which I've wanted to see for a while and wished I'd saved till Christmas! It is a good film, very much a rom-com, and with some great acting, fabulous scenes and a few curve ... more
74 of 74 Ciao users found the following review helpful

liz1102

I want to go on Holiday
Review with images
05/01/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages Believable storyline, okay cast, great soundtrack
Disadvantages England comes off badly! Works on stereotypes

The Holiday PLOT Two women, lives in crisis thanks to the men in them, decide to swap homes for the Christmas period. Each then go on to meet a different, local man and develop varying degrees of attraction. Iris (Kate Winslet) is a reporter for the Telegraph. She lives in a little cottage, in a tiny hamlet, in Surrey - it's a very stereotypical looking English cottage in the middle of English country side and a nearby small village. If it wasn't so picturesque it'd be insultingly stereotypical. She has just arrived in LA, leaving unrequited lover Jasper in England. (Cue the 'this house is so ... more
47 of 47 Ciao users found the following review helpful

sunmeilan

Member since 05/05/2005

Reviews written: 1138

We're all going on a (Christmas?) holiday! 08/08/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages Heart-warming, some good performances
Disadvantages A bit cheesy at times

Amanda, who lives in Los Angeles, is the owner of a firm that edits film trailers and is very successful at it. Unfortunately, her love life isn't quite so successful and just before Christmas, she splits up with her live-in boyfriend after she finds he has been cheating on her. Iris, a journalist, has just discovered that the love of her life is engaged to be married to someone else. By chance, Iris, who has a beautiful cottage in rural Sussex, has registered with a home exchange website and Amanda, deciding that she needs a holiday, contacts her. The two girls decide to spend two weeks in ... more
47 of 47 Ciao users found the following review helpful

D_i_a_n_e

Member since 15/08/2009

Reviews written: 311

Surrey or Los Angeles? 21/10/2009

User recommends the product

Advantages great story, brilliant performance
Disadvantages none

I’m on holiday now. I took the kids to my parents who live about 1,600 km away from us and we spend now 3 weeks here then go back. My parents enjoy spending a lot of time with them so I can relax now. It seemed so convenient to watch The Holiday that I watched it. It was a very good film I’m still thinking about some plots of it. I think this means that it is a great film. The Holiday was directed by Nancy Meyers. She is an American director, producer and screenplay writer. She directed several very successful films such as What Women Want, The Parent Trap (still on my to watch list) ... more
26 of 26 Ciao users found the following review helpful

afy9mab

Member since 11/07/2000

Reviews written: 1116

Christmas Cracker? 12/03/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages Some nice performances and assured direction.
Disadvantages Some clumsy Americanisms in the dialogue and too little chemsitry in some relationships.

LA high-flier Amanda has just split up with her two-timing boyfriend. Meanwhile Iris is crying her eyes out in Surrey, trying to get over her ex-boyfriend, who has just announced his engagement to someone else. On a whim they decide to exchange houses so they can get away from their romantic strife for the festive season. But little do they know that they will each meet someone new. Iris begins a friendship with amiable film score composer Miles, while Amanda finds herself in a clinch with Iris' dashing brother Graham. Writer-director Nancy Meyers knows a thing or two about romantic comedies ... more