Holidate Review: A Modern Classic For Holiday Cynics

Holiday cynics rejoice. Thanks to Holidate, we finally have our very own rom-com — and it doesn’t disappoint. 

I must clarify that while I’ve come to genuinely enjoy the TV Christmas movie very much, I am a certified holiday cynic. 

Family and drama aside, there is nothing worse than staring around a room full of relatives who are happy/or in love while just hoping there’s enough wine available to get you to the end of the holiday. 

Emma Roberts’ Sloane is an instantly relatable protagonist to anyone who has felt any semblance of those emotions in recent years. Jackson (Luke Bracey) is her male equivalent, sick of casually dating on holidays to fill a void left by the fact that his family lives in Australia. 

It makes sense that like attracts like in this case, defying the romantic trope that “opposites attract” because nothing about Holidate is conventional. 

Christmas bookends the film, but it’s decidedly not a Christmas movie. Sloane and Jackson regularly break the fourth wall by referencing cheesy romantic comedy endings and Ryan Reynolds (a universal hunk who frequents the genre) and it’s a vital component to the film.

Holidate crosses the line into ridiculous several times (Aunt Susan’s entire existence is exempt from this criticism. Kristin Chenoweth can do no wrong).

I’ll watch Jackson blow his f*ck you finger off on the Fourth Of July because Sloane and Jackson let us know they know we know how ridiculous it is, you know? 

The best homage to the genre is the Dirty Dancing lift attempt at the New Year’s Eve Party. It’s successful for long enough to get an Instagram picture, at least, before the wine-stained dress comes tumbling down. 

This event in particular is a great example of why the movie works so well — because even among the dress-swapping and the falls played for laughs — Sloane is literally alone at midnight and it’s sad. 

Holidate is just serious enough that we’re invested in everyone’s future, especially Sloane and Jackson’s.

But I do want to object to them having sex for the first time (that they remember, at least) the morning after he’s helped her clean up when she craps herself. 

Abby (Jessica Capshaw) accidentally gives Sloane the laxatives. It would make complete sense for Sloan to lock herself in her bathroom and call her sister up screaming and crying to come help. 

It may be a Holidate rule not to leave each other behind, but there must be an exception for diarrhea explosions. 

There is no smooth transition from here. But it’s not easy to understand Sloane and Jackson’s expectations of each other at different points in their arrangement, either. 

The morning of the sex, Jackson is angry with Sloane for not telling her sister her business. But how is she supposed to know what to label her relationship with her Holidate whom she is growing real feelings for and just had sex with? 

Plus, why is Abby entitled to all of those details? Is it because she barges into Sloane’s apartment and makes a good guess? 

Sloane and Jackson haven’t enjoyed real conversations about a relationship yet, and so his anger seems strange and unjustified. 

But the same can be said for Sloan’s reaction at the supermarket on Thanksgiving. We’re suddenly blindsided by an insecure woman who’s apparently hanging on every word of a stranger she’s just met at the mall.

People contain multitudes, but if Sloane is going to withdraw from Jackson after they’re intimate because she thinks he doesn’t actually find her attractive, we should have hints so it doesn’t come out of thin air when the plot needs conflict. 

For the record, it’s absolutely ridiculous to watch two people as hot as Roberts and Bracey claim they’re too unattractive to be with the other person. 

Holidate‘s strength is not the drama, so if you pretend that’s just another moment mocking romantic comedy, it works. 

We all need to laugh right now and there’s not a weak performer in the ensemble, so it feels wrong to magnify tiny faults.

Spoiler alert: there’s a happy ending, but it’s about time for cynics to get our rom-com. We deserve it. 

Random Musings:

• Aunt Susan’s system is looked down on by her family, but Holidates aren’t a bad idea. 
• Speaking of Aunt Susan, Chenoweth and Manish Dayal have good chemistry. 
• Dear God, I hope no one actually has a Matt Lauer tattoo. 
• Speaking of Matt, Holidate‘s pop culture references are spot on (R.I.P. Chadwick Boseman, we love all Black Panthers.) 
• Abby’s husband Peter is just unnecessary… I think it’s funnier if she just keeps referencing him (and she should end up with the Black Panther [aka Neil]). 

 

What did you think of Holidate? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Holidate is streaming now on Netflix.

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