The Holiday DVD

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 ...
...all, it is set over the Christmas period, and has "feel good" and "cheesy" stamped all over it. You know it all has to work out in the end - this is Hollywood after all, how often do you get an unhappy ending? - but it is the events that unfold and the progression of the characters that keeps you watching all the same. Iris (Kate Winslet) and Amanda (Cameron Diaz) couldn't be more different - one is an English journalist suffering from the affliction ... Read review

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

...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 ...
...seemingly perfect life she feels the need to get away from her surroundings to 'eat carbs without wanting to kill herself' and get away from the men in her life. What would you guess? She goes to look for a peaceful place to spend her holiday season. Fortunately Iris and Amana get to talking over the internet and agree to switch houses.... on the agreement that there are no men in their local areas. But as Christmas arrives and the girls learn to ... Read review

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 ...
...really don't care what's on the goggle box. That said, I am 4 days away from my official due date and quite frankly, turkey with all the trimmings PLUS pudding has nothing on how HUGE I feel! Who's in it? Kate Winslet plays Iris, a newspaper journalist sort who is deeply in love with the ex who cheated on her and can't seem to snap out of being nice to him, despite him having moved on considerably faster than the average Boeing 747. Cameron Diaz ... Read review

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

...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 ...
...needs a holiday, contacts her. The two girls decide to spend two weeks in each other's homes. Shortly Amanda's arrival, Iris's brother Graham pays a visit; the two are immediately attracted and begin what should be a holiday romance. On the other side of the Atlantic, Iris befriends an elderly former Hollywood screenwriter called Arthur, as well as Miles, a friend of Amanda's. With the help of the the two men, she manages to come to terms with her ... Read review

Advantages: Nice sweet film, romantic comedy
Disadvantages: Not the best romantic comedy I have seen, some may find it too sickly sweet!

***** The Film ***** Amanda Woods appears on the surface to be very successful, she is the owner of an advertising company in California which makes movie trailers and has a lovely luxury house but her personal life is falling apart. She discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her and she throws him out of the house and sets about trying to find somewhere to escape for Christmas, to leave the country and get away from men. Meanwhile Iris Simpkins ...
...the wedding column is having man trouble too. Her trouble is she is besotted with a man who does not love her. Things get a lot worse when at the work Christmas party she discovers he is getting married to another colleague. She too decides she needs to escape for a while and logs on to the internet to a house swap site and that is where she discovers Amanda. They decide to take a break from their troubles and get away from the men in their lives ... Read review