#31DaysOfChristmas: Holidate

 

Watched on: Netflix

Duration: 1 hour 44 minutes

Originally aired: October 28, 2020

Directed by: John Whitesell

Starring: Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, and Kristen Chenoweth

Please see IMDb for full cast and crew information.

Synopsis

Randomly meeting at a store return counter introduces Sloane to Jackson. Both tired of nightmare dates (him) and meddling family (her) during the holidays, they strike an arrangement, whereby they meet as a couple only during the holidays to make life at the very least tolerable. Slowly, so slowly, while scoffing at the cliches of romance (and to their surprise), their relationship grows into something deeper.

Review

I had been meaning to watch this movie for a couple years for this very feature. At this point, I'm kind of glad it made it in this year as opposed to previous years because it is NOT a Christmas movie. While it starts and ends at Christmas, the meat of the story happens outside of a Christmas setting. It really feels like another situation where they were trying to cash in on being a Christmas movie without committing to what that means. 

But I'm not going to judge Holidate quite as harshly as I judged Middleton Christmas because it doesn't actually say Christmas in the title. The cover and when it was released are what mostly imply it being a Christmas movie. I'm definitely still judging it harshly for those reasons, but it wasn't as misleading. 

I thought it was interesting just how many holidays the couple spent together. As an adult I have never been expected to spend most of those holidays doing things with family. Like Cinco de Mayo isn't something my family has ever celebrated, probably because like this couple, we're white. By that point it really did start to feel almost like an excuse for them to get together because they actually liked each other. 

The real highlight of this movie for me was Aunt Susan, played by Kristen Chenowith. I don't know if it was makeup or just the fact that she is in fact aging, but she managed to both look beautiful and like she'd been around the block a couple times all at the same time. She had dates in a variety of ages throughout the movie and each pairing seemed fitting for her age. It was weird and magical and awesome. 

I would definitely recommend the movie, just not as a Christmas movie. 

Rating