The Cameron Diaz Holiday Rom-Com Giving Netflix Fans Butterflies
Although they all have one thing in common, winter holiday movies come in all different shapes and sizes. The genre is big enough to hold the more traditional charms of "Elf" and the unconventional appeal of a Christmas classic like "Die Hard." Netflix users currently appear to be in the mood for the ever-popular "holiday rom-com" subgenre as the 2006 Nancy Meyers' flick "The Holiday" is on the streamer's list of the top 10 most viewed movies.
Iris (Kate Winslet) and Amanda (Cameron Diaz) are two very different women experiencing a very similar situation during the Christmas holiday season. They are each dealing with heartbreak and are feeling desperate to get away from their day-to-day lives and spend the holidays somewhere, anywhere, other than at home. This leads them to connect on a house-swapping website and before they know it, Iris is arriving at Amanda's palatial Los Angeles home and Amanda is getting cozy in Iris' English countryside cottage. Of course, once there, each woman also finds a potential new romance to help them shake off all that lingering heartache.
Now, "The Holiday" isn't exactly one of those movies that is going to blow your mind with its plot, which is pretty standard rom-com fare. In classic Meyersian style, however, it's the winning characters and sumptuous production design that make this perfect for a cozy night in.
The Holiday has its own charming style
While plenty of critics didn't see the magic of "The Holiday" when it first came out (the movie only has a 49% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), there are those who understood exactly what the film was trying to achieve.
In a review from the time of the film's release, Dana Stevens of Slate took a moment to appreciate an aspect of the film that others might have criticized. "Meyers' films are slackly paced, yes—The Holiday could lose at least 20 minutes—but in a way that feels somehow generous and roomy," Stevens wrote. "The characters pace and putter around in the story like animals building their nests, and by the time they finally settle down with their mates, we have a grudging affection for them."
Writing for Refinery29, Anne Cohen further explored the distinct style of "The Holiday" in a retrospective analysis from 2018. Not only did she declare that the film "boasts one of the best of the director's signature kitchens," but also that it's an important entry in an even more niche genre than "rom-com" or "holiday movie."
"Still, what makes The Holiday interesting," Cohen said, "is that unlike most holiday-themed movies, it exhorts the viewer to take time for themselves, not just others. It's the ultimate self-care flick."
You can get cozy with "The Holiday," which is now streaming on Netflix.