Holidate (2020) Movie Review

Holidate | 2020 | 1h 44m
Genre: Holiday Comedy/Holiday Romance/Rom-com/Comedy/Holiday/Romance | Country: US
Director: John Whitesell | Writers: Tiffany Paulsen
Cast: Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, Kristin Chenoweth
IMDB: 6.2
My Rate: 8/10

Sloane and Jackson, not wanting to be alone on every holiday, decide to become temporary partners 'Holidate' to accompany each other on that day. However, the relationship becomes problematic when feelings start to arise between them.

Warning:         

Sensual scenes, nudity, violence, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and harsh words

 

Synopsis:

Sloane (Emma Roberts) returns to her parents' house to celebrate Christmas. However, she is immediately greeted with insinuations about her status of not having a boyfriend. Her family tries to introduce Sloane to several men but to no avail. Because of the trauma Sloane once felt when her boyfriend cheated on her.

On the other hand, Jackson (Luke Bracey) spends Christmas at the house of a female acquaintance who is quite close to him, but has not known him long enough. However, it turns out that the woman says that Jackson is her boyfriend, which makes the family misunderstand. Problems arise when Jackson does not give a gift to the woman.

Sloane and Jackson meet while exchanging the gifts they received at the store. Sloane also accidentally meets the man her aunt brought as a Holidate partner at Christmas. Jackson is then attracted to the Holidate concept expressed by Sloane and invites Sloane to do it. Jackson gives her his business card and hopes Sloane will contact him for New Year's Eve.

Sloane, who receives pressure from her mother who wants to introduce her to Farooq (Manish Dayal), her new neighbor, finally decides to contact Jackson and spend New Year's Eve together. Their relationship continues as Holidate. Until each of their feelings starts to change slightly.

Will feelings of love grow and unite them?

 

Review:

Holidate has an interesting story idea, although maybe not too unique. Many say that the story idea presented is actually quite cliché. However, this film manages to present the idea with an interesting narrative story display.

The story opens by introducing the main characters, namely Sloane and Jackson. The audience will be shown the problems they face, especially during certain celebrations, such as Christmas and other days. The Holidate concept itself emerges quite naturally where it is exemplified by Sloane's aunt and raised to the surface with events that also make sense. The meeting of the characters and how they start the relationship is presented quite neatly. Character building is also not too excessive.

Conflicts begin to arise slowly, especially after there are feelings in each character. The dialogue expressed becomes a clue to the emergence of conflict, for example when they both talk about Friend With Benefits at the beginning of their Holidate. There are also scenes that have implied that they are most likely to violate these rules. Internal conflict within the character, especially Sloane, becomes the conflict that leads to the climax. Tension begins to arise and an unharmonious relationship begins to be felt.

After a long enough conflict, the resolution scene is done very well. Which brings them back to meet at the place where they first met. As if to revive their memories.

The character development of the characters is also quite visible. Where they can each overcome the trauma they have and try to start a new relationship. At the end we can also see a glimpse of the fate of each couple, not only the main couple.

The acting of the players is very good and looks natural. The chemistry that is built is also clearly visible, not only in the main characters but also with other supporting characters. Each actor gives the appropriate portion for each character played.

The cinematography and details are carefully considered. Where the audience can see various important details that are influential in the story. In addition, there are also light jokes that are displayed through scenes that may be a little ambiguous. For example, after a dialogue related to hand games, followed by a scene of Sloane and Jackson that seems to lead to sensual, but actually not. Another example is when the dialogue where Sloane says about Ryan Gosling shopping, there is an actor who looks similar to Ryan Gosling behind Sloane.

The selection of music plays an important role in building the mood or vibes of each scene. It is done quite well. So it managed to convey the appropriate impression in the scene.

Many messages that may be life lessons and wrapped in tickling scenes. Even the story may relate to most people in the same age range as the character. Overall this film is quite interesting and light to watch.

 

Memorable scene:

Sloane takes Jackson to the hospital after he injures his hand. Farooq is the doctor who treats Jackson. Jackson sees the interaction and closeness between Sloane and Farooq. Jealousy begins to arise in his heart.

 

Memorable dialogue:

"Life is giving you a moment. Don't fuck it up!"

 

Ending:

Happy Ending

 

Recommendation:

Worth to Watch

 

(Aluna)