The formulations behind "The Holiday"

I went to see "The Holiday" with my so-called "Flower Power" girl gang last week and I wept like a baby. I'm sure loads and loads of single (or even married) girls would adore this movie and make it one of their most favorite movies in Romantic Comedy Genre. So today, I’d like to appoint myself as a VH1 pop culture critique/ Brand Age columnist and talk about the formulations for success behind this movie. (If you haven’t seen the movie, you should see it before reading this blog. If you have to choose, choose the movie, it sure is worthier than reading this blog.)

• “cannot-get-over-that-prick” insight: The fact that Iris cannot get over her ex-boyfriend who is such a ----ing bastard is such a sad-but-true insight of many women who fell for the “bad guys” who happen to be so charismatic and sweet and unpredictable that one day he just happens to fall in love with such an ordinary girl like you and then another day happens to fall out of it and mercilessly break your heart. These bastards only come back to us when they need help or a boost-up for their self-esteem (that there’s someone who is stupid enough to always falls for him). This insight rings the bell of pretty much all women – with ordinary looking, which is probably 80% of the women who go to see this movie.
• “high-flying career women who chase men away” insight: well, this sounds familiar… I guess the other 20% of the women who go to see this movie falls into this segment. Somehow, men these days are scared the s--t out of smart, hard-working women, so much so that they blame the women to be self-centered, inconsiderate, unemotional, cold, bossy, etc. (Hey, I’m just critiquing a film, not trying to defend myself or anything.) These two insights about two kinds of women (which can exist in one person) make girls love this movie coz it liberates them from the guilt they’ve been long suffering.
• “Even I’m the woman as described above, there’s a chance to find great guys.” Seriously, you think how many “Miles” and “Graham” exist in the real world. But hey, if it happens in the movie, we won’t get punished to keep on hoping that it could happen to us, right?
• “Meeting certain someone during the holiday season”: this is a basic formulation but works every time. I don’t know, maybe it’s the snow, the Christmas songs, the new year’s eve, the celebrating atmosphere and the fact that we get days and weeks out of work so all we think about is our love life.
• “Meeting someone outside of your country”: Also basic, works most of the time. You don’t know anyone there, so you’re supposed to be miserable and lonely and, ta-da, he’s your savior.
• “Meeting the right guy and knowing you have to leave soon”: And so you try not to expect too much from this relationship, maybe it’s just a fling, oh but he’s so right, oh but I have to leave, oh now I actually really like the guy, what to do, what to do. Used probably too often, but works for this time.
• “The old, but very nice guy you happen to meet and enjoy the company”: this one works either the elderly or the small kid. The key is that the relationship somehow gives back confidence and self-esteem to the woman that after all, she’s a great woman who’s got someone who cares about her.
• “Mr. Napkin”: I mean the widower who takes care of his daughters so well. The moment this fact of Graham’s character was revealed, and we saw him playing with his two daughters with such love and tender, I heard women sobbing. I mean, how cuter a guy could be, if not post the death of his wife, he still raises his daughters with so much love.
• “The guy with music talent”: well, especially piano. I’m not sure any girl falls for this, but I do. The moment when Miles says to Iris that if she were a melody, she would be…and he plays that melody, I just whispered to my friend, “oh you could just kill me now. How much more romantic life could ever be.”
• The script is actually funny & touching: a good Romantic Comedy needs both elements at the right amount: not too much, not too little. The key is to make you look at love with optimistic eyes again, feel that, oh yeah, falling in love in so romantic, so fun, and it’s worth all the risks. (Special applause to the “trailer joke”)
• The cast: great choice! Bravo to casting team. Kate Winslet is brilliant, as always. She brings depth to her character and makes the plot believable. Although that guy who dumped a girl looking like Kate should seriously consider checking up at a mental hospital. I really like Jack Black in this one. Usually he’s too funny. But he happens to have just about right sense of humor and warmth, and there’s certain seriousness in him that I find attractive. Cameron Diaz is, I think, as I would expect from her. She’s cute & funny, but nothing else much. I mean, she doesn’t have that same charisma of Renee Zellweger in Jerry Mcguire, Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, or Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle. But who would expect that from Cameron anyway?
• Jude Law: well, I just have to separate him from the rest of the cast. He’s… beyond description. I mean, to fully write about him in this movie would take days, otherwise it doesn’t do the justice. So in short, he keeps the hotness he always has, or maybe, increases it. Coz this time, he’s tanner! Also, he’s a widower, with two daughters, and he plays Mr. Napkin with them (see point above). And he’s sensitive, he cries so easily. And he tells the woman he falls in love with her first. And the way he looks at her when he says it – the warmth in the eyes. And he’s got perfectly posh British accent. And they feature him topless for several minutes. And he happens to be a great guy with a face & body of Jude Law. So Jude, don’t worry, your position in my Top 5 remains unwavering.