Meanwhile, in Surrey, England, Iris (Kate Winslet) is pounding away on her keyboard getting that last newspaper wedding announcement done before the Christmas holiday kicks in, all the while the company Christmas party rages on around her. We soon find out that Iris is and has been hopelessly in love with her co-worker, Jasper, for many years. It seems that Jasper runs around with other women (most recently with "that girl from circulation"), but always comes back to dependable and somewhat dowdy Iris - at least when he needs a shoulder to cry on or a really good editor for his writings. Jasper comes to wish Iris a Happy Christmas and to exchange Christmas gifts, but they are interrupted by their boss who wants everyone's attention to make an important announcement. It seems two of his most popular employees at the paper are getting engaged. Jasper and Hannah (yes, from circulation), and Iris gets to write the announcement! The shock this delivers to Iris is visible on her face and at that moment, she decides she also needs an escape.
The two women meet up on a vacation website and decide to swap houses. Amanda is thrilled at the thought of a little English village with no men to speak of. Iris can't wait to flee England for warmer climates and quite frankly, to be anywhere that Jasper isn't. Iris is more than thrilled when she arrives at Amanda's palatial L.A. villa, complete with enormous movie library and swimming pool. Amanda, on the other hand, finds that her car service is unable to even drive down the tiny lane to Iris' very small cottage, so she has to hoof it. Hilarity ensues.
Soon enough, Amanda meets Iris' dashingly handsome brother, Graham (Jude Law), who stumbles to Iris' house in a drunken stupor on Amanda's first night there. Apparently he does this from time to time. The two immediately hit it off and spend the night together. After all, Amanda rationalizes that she needs a little bit of mindless vacation sex with no strings attached.
In the meantime, back in L.A. Iris meets Miles (Jack Black), a composer who also happens to be Amanda's ex-boyfriend's best friend. Although Miles is already in a relationship, the two become friends. Iris also meets her L.A. next door neighbor, Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach), a heavy hitting screenplay writer during the golden age of Hollywood who sometimes succumbs to bouts of Alzheimer's. The two become fast friends and soon are having dinner parties with Arthur's old Hollywood buddies, with Miles in tow.
As Amanda and Graham begin to fall for one another, several phone calls from other girls lead Amanda to think Graham is simply a player and that she should just take it as a vacation romance and leave it at that. On the flip side, Miles' actress girlfriend leaves him and he and Iris start to kindle a romance - only to be complicated when Jasper flies to L.A. to see Iris.
One odd part to the movie that I found really entertaining was the announcer giving a trailer-like play by play of what was happening to Amanda. See, Amanda's company makes movie trailers for huge Hollywood productions. So in her mind, she is always making a trailer of her life. When she screws up, when she is falling in love, etc. So she'll be saddened by something and boom - here comes the announcer's voice giving you an update. It was a cute touch.
The Holiday was written and directed by Nancy Meyers of What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give fame, so if those movies are your cup of tea, you'll probably enjoy The Holiday. You'll need to rent the film yourself to see how everything works out at the end, but it's a cute movie. Honestly, I really thought it would be funnier when I saw it advertised for the theaters. But, while not uproariously funny, it's a sweet, amusing movie with a nice ending. While I wouldn't necessarily recommended it as a purchase, it's a good chick flick and worth a rental on a cold, rainy evening.
