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The Rewatchables ·

The Holiday

year 2006decade 00sdirector Nancy Meyersgenre Drama
host Juliet Litmanhost Amanda Dobbinshost Kari Simmons
All 15 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 10:03

Cameron Diaz's drive into the village

The video store scene is the obvious nominee but nobody on the panel loves it: it is Jack Black's signature scene, at a Blockbuster that looks like the west side, explaining movies to Kate Winslet through their scores while Dustin Hoffman stands annoyed in the same row; the 'Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio' clip is played, in which the dialogue says it was written for the movie as a score.

The key objection is that he is singing the scores rather than playing them, with vowels no other human has made; on a date it would be an absolute pass, yet it is still an iconic scene in the movie.

The film

The Holiday (2006)

Directed by Nancy Meyers · Drama

136 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

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Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

10:03

Most Rewatchable Scene

Cameron Diaz's drive into the village; Jude Law as a dad with his two daughters; Jude Law and Cameron Diaz's morning ...

Cameron Diaz's drive into the village; Jude Law as a dad with his two daughters; Jude Law and Cameron Diaz's morning after

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:03Read transcript
  • The video store scene is the obvious nominee but nobody on the panel loves it: it is Jack Black's signature scene, at a Blockbuster that looks like the west side, explaining movies to Kate Winslet through their scores while Dustin Hoffman stands annoyed in the same row; the 'Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio' clip is played, in which the dialogue says it was written for the movie as a score.
  • The key objection is that he is singing the scores rather than playing them, with vowels no other human has made; on a date it would be an absolute pass, yet it is still an iconic scene in the movie.
  • Graham and Amanda's first morning after is nominated with a clip: Cameron Diaz absolutely shines, a little awkward, doing the screwball thing she is good at, although the cadence of the banter is a bit odd, and her trying not to seem too into him is a relatable position.
  • Diaz's power is the very physical, goofy comedy, so the together control freak is not funny Cameron Diaz and it feels more natural once she is allowed to be weird; the scene is also uncomfortable because Jude Law is so hot, in the greatest glasses ever, early to the plastic-glasses trend before Warby Parker, a hot dad who is a distraction in every scene.
  • The scene where Cameron Diaz goes to Jude Law's house and learns Sophie and Olivia are his daughters, not other women, is another nominee: the two British girls are the cutest kids and call both adults out, though they seem too well adjusted a year after their mother died; it is summed up as 'Jude Law as a dad', doing the napkin face, crafted in a lab to appeal to a certain type of person, with a nice house too.
  • On the Kate Winslet side, Iris picking up Arthur to go to the WGA, helping him walk in the pool, the Hanukkah dinner with his old friends, and the last scene where he gives her a corsage (clip played) are liked, with the Arthur plot line preferred to Winslet's other plot lines as a real L.A. story of befriending a neighbor; still, nothing contends with Jude Law and Cameron Diaz.
  • Cameron Diaz driving to the town, terrified of hitting cars, just missing Jude Law on his bike and pulling up at the little grocery store, then alone in the cottage swigging wine in a beanie hat and reading, is called a favorite and solo funny Cameron Diaz.
  • The final picks are Cameron Diaz driving, 'Jude Law is a dad', and the Jude Law and Cameron Diaz morning after; everyone agrees it is a Jude Law and Cameron Diaz movie.
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19:20

What’s Aged the Best?

Jude Law's handsomeness

Jude Law's handsomeness

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:20Read transcript
  • Homeexchange.com is the first item: living in someone else's home on a whim was not mainstream in 2006, maybe a two-week rental, but it has been totally validated by the last five years and is as seamless now as the movie made it look, with the show-up-and-see-what-you-find thrill or the wish you had picked a hotel.
  • Los Angeles at Christmas is truly underrated and the movie did it justice: quiet with no traffic, a coat at night and warm sun by day, Christmas music playing; the drive onto Sunset off the PCH with no cars is saved as a nitpick.
  • Celebrating the art of movie trailers has aged well: in 2006 trailers were still corny voiceover work, but the film knew they mattered, the Ringer now runs a trailer bracket, Cameron Diaz's 'that's why they pay me the big bucks' moment with the Lindsay Lohan trailer shows the cynical side, and 'now it looks like a hit' with Katherine Hahn and John Krasinski shows the movie invested in the changing landscape.
  • The Hans Zimmer score is very lovely and the soundtrack, with the White Stripes for the bed dance, James Taylor's Merry Little Christmas, the Phil Spector Christmas album and a 'Neretha Franklin' (as transcribed) cover of You Send Me, cues every song perfectly; Zoe, picked up from the train, recognized the music in the car, and it conveys a feeling that is very Nancy Meyers.
  • Jude Law's handsomeness is timeless, as is how he dresses, the hot tweedy British guy; men in L.A. all dress the same, so England or Boston professors would raise the odds, and only Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is as defined by one person's hotness.
  • Jude Law is objectively hotter than Hugh Grant but gives the same tweedy appeal as Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral, which one host calls the hottest Hugh Grant ever at a too-impressionable age, while another never believed Grant as a heartthrob; the panel agrees Jude Law definitely aged the best.
  • The L.A. house has aged very well: the exterior is a Wallace Neff house in San Marino by Pasadena, seen when Cameron Diaz talks to Ed Burns from the balcony, classic Spanish architecture and a dream L.A. home.
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25:42

What’s Aged the Worst?

The newspaper; Blockbuster and the DVD collection; the BlackBerrys and international calling; the Coffee Bean frappuc...

The newspaper; Blockbuster and the DVD collection; the BlackBerrys and international calling; the Coffee Bean frappuccino; the decor of the Los Angeles house; Jack Black as a romantic interest

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:42Read transcript
  • The newspaper, Blockbuster, the DVD collection and the BlackBerrys have aged the worst, though one host misses her BlackBerry Curve from 2009, great for texting and email and not the internet; BlackBerry peaked in 2008 so 2006 was slightly early.
  • The phones raise questions about international dialing rates, especially when Kate Winslet is going between Cameron Diaz and Jude Law on the phone, though these are unbelievably wealthy people in perfect mansions who fly off on a whim; the international plan is seamless now but was not 13 years ago.
  • Jack Black handing Kate Winslet a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf frappuccino as the best drink in town, remembered from Mary Kate and Ashley tabloid coverage around 2003 and 2004, is funny now that Coffee Bean has pulled out of many places and people are more health conscious; his two dollops of whipped cream show she does not care either.
  • The director's commentary says the Cotswold house was dressed with lots of candy to make Iris warm and less concerned with being a size two, which the frumpy L.A. outfits confirm.
  • The decor of Amanda's home has aged the worst: bowls of spray-painted dried artichokes, not pine cones, around the exterior and real artichokes inside, couches like office hotel chic, Pier 1 dressing, built-ins but nothing rich or luxurious, unlike the lived-in house in It's Complicated.
  • The commentary confirms the interior was a built set, including a bathroom for the bed-jumping scene (Kate Winslet's idea to jump on the bed) that was never used; the budget was $85 million against about $200 million worldwide, pretty well for a rom-com in 2006.
  • The England house is far more memorable: the little staircase, the mini fireplace, the coziness three L.A. residents long for; Cameron Diaz wearing her hat and mittens inside is a very L.A. thing since nowhere is well heated. In general the movie aged well.
  • A bomb is thrown in: Jack Black as a romantic interest does not stand in 2019, even if he was having a School of Rock moment and offers something for everybody next to Jude Law.
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40:15

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Ed Burns; Eli Wallach; Lindsay Lohan; Katherine Hahn

Ed Burns; Eli Wallach; Lindsay Lohan; Katherine Hahn

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:15Read transcript
  • There are many choices doing a lot in little screen time: Lindsay Lohan, James Franco, Catherine Hahn, John Krasinski, Dustin Hoffman; Eli Wallach is debated as too big a role, settled by the rule that he is not on the movie poster.
  • The unnamed newsroom friend who tells Iris nobody is friends with an ex who cheats on them is liked for extreme real talk; Ed Burns, Cameron Diaz's ex, is added to the list with an explicit 'I would say he wins it', and Eli Wallach is also chosen as so great in the movie.
  • The award is explained as the heat check, coming in for a short time and going off; Kate Winslet has three men, the ex Jasper (Rufus Sewell, a waste of time), Arthur and Jack Black, but Jack Black is billed as a star and Eli Wallach is not on the poster, which becomes the new eligibility definition.
  • Dustin Hoffman is questioned since he is in for five seconds, and it is hard because these people are in it so briefly; one pick lands on Lohan out of a soft spot for her.
  • The guest's pick is Katherine Hahn, out of love for her: the character name Bristol Farms is such an L.A. name, and her small part here looks tiny next to all the later work; there are a lot of great small roles for extremely famous people. — Kari Simmons
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42:56

Apex Mountain

Jack Black

Jack Black

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:56Read transcript
  • Apex Mountain is defined, with Craig asked to correct it, as the point of most objective power in a career, not a personal favorite, given the context of the movie and the movie itself; all four stars and Nancy Meyers are to be assessed.
  • Cameron Diaz is a firm no: 2006 is the very beginning of her slowing down, her peak being the plateau from There's Something About Mary in 1998 through Charlie's Angels and Shrek in 2001, before Vanilla Sky and Gangs of New York; on this press tour she described going movie to movie without stopping, and she has since retired from acting.
  • Jack Black is argued as the one yes: this follows School of Rock in 2003, King Kong and Tenacious D, and he peters off afterward into voice work and the Goosebumps movies; another host says his apex is School of Rock, the one movie associated with him, and the panel settles on the 2002 to 2006 run as peak Jack Black.
  • Kate Winslet is on the rise rather than at her apex: she has had many peaks, Titanic catapulted her, nobody thinks The Holiday is her best work, and she won her Oscar in 2008, after this, for The Reader, called a terrible movie, the same year as Revolutionary Road.
  • Jude Law's apex of hotness is debated between this movie, as rich, handsome, jazz-loving dad Graham Simpkins, and The Talented Mr. Ripley in a rowboat in Italy wearing linens; his career apex is Ripley, with an Oscar nomination, after which it was a gradual decline through Closer, Cold Mountain and I Heart Huckabees without ever carrying a movie, Alfie being a non-hit during the Sienna Miller scandal.
  • An argument that Jude Law is in his apex now, doing whatever he wants in The Young Pope, the Harry Potter spinoff and Marvel movies, is heard, but for actual power and hotness it is Talented Mr. Ripley, which should get its own episode at 20 years old this December.
  • Nancy Meyers's apex is not this but likely Something's Gotta Give, a critical breakthrough with Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves in 2003 when studio comedies still made money, plus Frances McDormand and Jon Favreau in a really good cast; Home Again is her daughter's movie that she produced; so the only possible apex here, and probably not even, is Jack Black.
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53:04

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:04Read transcript
  • Dustin Hoffman takes the Joey Pants award as the greatest that guy of all time, a sort of reverse that guy.
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57:15

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Jack Black

Jack Black

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:15Read transcript
  • The overacting award, nearly skipped, goes to Jack Black by agreement.
  • Cameron Diaz bugged one host with her esophageal spasms, pronouncing esophagus with a soft G, and her trying to cry, moments that feel like 'calm down, we get it, you have emotional issues'.
  • Her opening fight with Ed Burns, where they shriek at each other and nobody believes either cares, is proposed to make it a shared award; the clip is played and she was always visibly acting, perhaps because the character is out of her element in England.
  • Earlier, during the casting discussion, Jack Black's performance was already called a little overacting.
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1:16:59

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Yes, a 10-episode Netflix show

Yes, a 10-episode Netflix show

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:59Read transcript
  • A 10-episode Netflix remake gets an enthusiastic yes from everyone, do it right now; the draw is seeing Iris and Jack Black break up, which is expected in two months or five months, while Jude Law and Cameron Diaz are assumed to have a future.
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1:18:44

Who Won the Movie?

Jude Law

Jude Law

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:44Read transcript
  • Jude Law won the movie, resoundingly: that guy is so hot it carries the movie, tough but true, and the movie does not work without him; there is no other answer, and yet, as transcribed, 'it still has Apex Mountain', how wild.
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