Page 14 from Issue 2: The End of the World
The Holidate is the Best Movie You Haven't Seen... Yet
by Jake Breslauer
I officially deem this the year of Rom-Coms. Why Rom-Coms? Because it’s been a shit year and we all deserve a cheap cry. It’s the holidays and nothing gets the tear ducts flowing like watching a movie about someone who just can’t seem to get it together.
The Holidate is one of those movies that everytime I scrolled past it in my Netflix queue I would roll my eyes. Rom-Coms have never been my thing but like many others, I was roped into watching them by my wife. She understands the power that these movies have on stubborn cynics like myself who turn their noses down at such films. During this quarantine she has encouraged me to branch out with such films like “You’ve Got Mail” and “About Time.” She knew FULLY well the effects these flicks would have on my emotions. She sat by and witnessed my grumpy exterior melt away with deep hard sobs when Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks kissed for the first time.
Inherently these movies pose terrible and outdated views about relationships. The idea that one can only be happy when they meet their significant other and plunge head first into a life of TV dinners and procreation. I like to think that we’ve evolved beyond that mindset. It’s okay to be married and not have kids, monogamy doesn’t work for everyone, and being a divorced single parent shouldn’t make you the neighborhood pariah.
The Holidate has all the right ingredients to properly make a sappy Christmas rom com. A generous helping of a millennial spinster, a dash of gorgeous male protagonist who won’t settle down, and a huge dollop of a friendship that blossoms into something more (and don’t forget a dash of overbearing mother and an unruly yet wise aunt played by Kristin Chenoweth).
Is the plot original? No. Is the movie predictable? Absolutely. Do I morally object to the theme?
I think I’ve made that clear.
Why is it the best movie you haven’t watched yet? I don’t want to speak for you, but it’s exactly what I need right now. A love story with some well placed zaniness and slapstick humor. I now enjoy movies like this for the same reason that I watch Disney or Monty Python. I want to escape into a world of familiarity and nostalgia. This year we’ve turned to all sorts of different comforts and escape tactics like ice cream breakfasts and wine lunches. If watching a movie that I know is going to tug at some familiar heart strings is wrong then I don’t want to be right.
Plain and simple, this movie does its job. It’s not trying to be anything it’s not. It knows it’s a tired and recycled concept. But like Kristin Chenoweth’s courage aunt character it says “whatever, I’m still fun.”
So open a bottle of wine, throw away the cork, eat too much chocolate, and let yourself get lost in this terrible yet extremely gratifying tear jerker about two alcoholics who fall in love. Yup, that’s the plot. You’ll love it.
The Holidate is one of those movies that everytime I scrolled past it in my Netflix queue I would roll my eyes. Rom-Coms have never been my thing but like many others, I was roped into watching them by my wife. She understands the power that these movies have on stubborn cynics like myself who turn their noses down at such films. During this quarantine she has encouraged me to branch out with such films like “You’ve Got Mail” and “About Time.” She knew FULLY well the effects these flicks would have on my emotions. She sat by and witnessed my grumpy exterior melt away with deep hard sobs when Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks kissed for the first time.
Inherently these movies pose terrible and outdated views about relationships. The idea that one can only be happy when they meet their significant other and plunge head first into a life of TV dinners and procreation. I like to think that we’ve evolved beyond that mindset. It’s okay to be married and not have kids, monogamy doesn’t work for everyone, and being a divorced single parent shouldn’t make you the neighborhood pariah.
The Holidate has all the right ingredients to properly make a sappy Christmas rom com. A generous helping of a millennial spinster, a dash of gorgeous male protagonist who won’t settle down, and a huge dollop of a friendship that blossoms into something more (and don’t forget a dash of overbearing mother and an unruly yet wise aunt played by Kristin Chenoweth).
Is the plot original? No. Is the movie predictable? Absolutely. Do I morally object to the theme?
I think I’ve made that clear.
Why is it the best movie you haven’t watched yet? I don’t want to speak for you, but it’s exactly what I need right now. A love story with some well placed zaniness and slapstick humor. I now enjoy movies like this for the same reason that I watch Disney or Monty Python. I want to escape into a world of familiarity and nostalgia. This year we’ve turned to all sorts of different comforts and escape tactics like ice cream breakfasts and wine lunches. If watching a movie that I know is going to tug at some familiar heart strings is wrong then I don’t want to be right.
Plain and simple, this movie does its job. It’s not trying to be anything it’s not. It knows it’s a tired and recycled concept. But like Kristin Chenoweth’s courage aunt character it says “whatever, I’m still fun.”
So open a bottle of wine, throw away the cork, eat too much chocolate, and let yourself get lost in this terrible yet extremely gratifying tear jerker about two alcoholics who fall in love. Yup, that’s the plot. You’ll love it.