Director: John Whitesell
Cast: Luke Bracey, Emma Roberts, Jessica Capshaw, Kristin Chenoweth
It is that time of the year when Hollywood spouts out romcoms to make do during the holiday season. Holidate is no exception. There is romance (or what passes for romance), cliched dialogues, a big and final proposal and of course two people fighting against their feelings. Sloane (Emma Roberts) is single during the holidays and so is Jackson (Luke Bracey). The two get into a ‘holidate’ where they agree to be each other’s platonic dates for all the holidays. Soon romance blossoms (duh)! Will the couple get past their differences and give this relationship a try? No prizes for guessing the right answer.
Romcoms are usually a cliché but they sometimes work due to underlying cute dialogues and well-rounded characters (looking at you Notting Hill), both of which are absent in Holidate. The dialogues are stereotypical and sometimes even sexist which puts off the so-called romance. The age-old notions of women and men are stressed time and again, and it is tiresome to see a run-of-the-mill story in 2020.
There are few scenes that makes it okay for us to sit through this shindig – particularly one involving Emma Roberts taking a laxative by mistake, which reminded me of a similar hilarious show in the famed Two Weeks Notice. While the latter somehow managed to sneak in some romance in an otherwise indelicate scenario, Holidate fails in that score as well. While it elicits a chuckle now and then, the movie lacks a fundamental depth of emotion. Jessica Capshaw as Sloane’s sister scores a few good moments. Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey share a decent chemistry on screen.
Holiday romcoms are all about feel good romance and some meet-cute moments. But Holidate has no redeeming factor and lacks imagination, subtlety, and a good script.
Rating: 1/5
