User Reviews

Same basic crud, they always gotta have a fight near the end, they break up. Then the character realizes they love the other, they rush to the airport or make a speech, and all is well. So very tired of these awful tropes.

Holidate 2020 15 Director: John Whitesell Starring: Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, Kristin Chenoweth, Frances Fisher, Andrew Bachelor, Jessica Capshaw, Manish Dayal, Alex Moffatt, Cynthy Wu, Jake Manley, etc

Overall rating 76/100

Holidate focuses on two single people Sloane (Emma Roberts) and Jackson (Luke Bracey) who are tired of being alone over the holiday season so agree to be each other's platonic dates for the holidays but they fall in love with each other along the way. Holidate was a lot of fun and had a lot of loveable qualities to it so let's get started.

First of all the movie had an interesting plot, was hilarious and had likeable characters with a good set up between the two main characters. The actual idea of the movie having someone to be with over the holiday with no strings attached was a really interesting set up and concept, it left a lot of humour to have fun with, The movie was also hilarious, the dialogue was very clever, the characters comedic timing and chemistry with each other was excellent and the movie was just infectious and put a smile on your face, it didn't hold back or play it safe with its comedic moments as well which I Loved. All the characters were also extremely likeable, every singly character played their perfectly within the film, Kristen Chenowith especially was fantastic and her comedic performance with her character was excellent. Finally, I also loved the set up between the main two characters. I loved how the movie spent time on where both characters were at with their love life, with one being the only single one in the family and the other just getting out of a crazy relationship it set up them meeting very well and set the tone well for the rest of the movie.

My next couple of positives would be the cinematography and the great self-aware tone and dialogue. This movie actually had fantastic visuals which I wasn't expecting, there was some beautiful set pieces in transitioning between all the different festive periods, and some really nice uses of colour that was visually striking especially in the club or party scenes. I loved how self aware the movie was in terms of it's dialogue and how the plot developed, the movie knew what kind of film it was and the dialogue exchanged especially with Emma Roberts made the film a lot more fun and easier to watch knowing what kind of movie you were watching you could just sit back and enjoy as the movies plot developed.

My few negatives for the movie would be that it was still very generic, had very corny dialogue in parts and there was a lack of development or change to the plot for a long period of time. Despite the movies self aware tone it was still very generic, it would have been nice for a few surprises or slightly less obvious character decisions with the plot, so this effected the movie slightly, I also thought some of the dialogue was very corny in places. In parts the dialogue between the different characters was very awkward and not all of the jokes landed, a lot of the dialogue just lacked freshness. Finally, my biggest issue with the movie for me was the lack of change or development to the plot, I liked the decision to have the main characters not together for the whole film, but Holidate got itself stuck in a rut where it was just constantly changing holidays and there relationship still being the same with no development, it just made parts of the movie feel very repetitive, and made the original and cool idea go slightly stale, this was fixed eventually but it definitely effected the movie a fair amount.

My final few positives would be the chemistry between characters, development of the main characters relationship, and the satisfying ending. I thought that Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey has absolutely fantastic on screen chemistry, their relationship was believable, charming and heart-warming to watch evolve throughout the movie. I also loved how their relationship developed, the fact that they stayed friends for a while for me worked really well and added a really interesting dynamic to the movie as you got to see two different side to their relationship. The final act was also despite being predictable very satisfying, despite seeing them get together from a mile off, the way it was executed in the final act was excellent with more polished dialogue that worked for all the characters and ended the film in a positive way.

Overall, despite having some dialogue issues and being creatively stuck in a rut for too much of the movie, Holidate is a funny, charming and likeable movie that will do very well over the holiday season and shine a light on the comedic talent involved within the movie.