I didn't hate "The Holidate," and I holihate myself for it
I know there are bigger and more stressful things going on in the world right now, but today’s newsletter was already written yesterday — feel free to ignore this, or use it for a few minutes of distraction.
Hey, did I, along with everyone else with a Netflix subscription, roll my eyes when The Holidate popped up for me? Of course. Is it a totally predictable, heteronormative tale that perpetuates the false narrative that one must be partnered up during the holidays to be totally happy? Absolutely it is. Is there a big declaration of love in front of a giant group of strangers who then clap and cheer? You betcha. Do I even like Emma Roberts? Nope!
And yet. And yet. I didn’t hate it. I don’t even know who I am anymore.
The “plot”: Two perpetually single people whose personal lives are messes decide to be each other’s holiday dates throughout the year so that their families will stop bugging them. Along the way they learn a lot about love, each other, and, dare I say, themselves?
I know. It sounds like garbage. It should be garbage! But it’s somehow not complete garbage. Luke Bracey is VERY charming and hot, and he actually has decent chemistry with Roberts, who is… fine. (About Bracey, Craig said, “Hollywood must be SO difficult if a guy that handsome and charming can only land a role in The Holidate.”) And because this isn’t the Hallmark channel, the movie allows itself to be a little raunchier than your typical hetero Christmas movie, with plenty o’ swears, and it has a bit of a sense of humour about itself that these kinds of movies typically don’t.
Of course, the central conceit of this movie makes no sense, because at first it seems like they’re going to pretend to be boyfriend/girlfriend to get their families off their backs about getting into a relationship — but it quickly becomes clear that everyone knows they just do this for holidays, so why bother? Yeah, it’s nice to have company, but it’s still a bit odd.
STILL, THOUGH! I didn’t hate it. I mean, don’t expect Citizen Kane or anything, but there’s a possibility you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how not-totally-terrible The Holidate is.
But there’s also a much better version of this movie called Plus One that you might want to check out instead, and you might be better off with that. Follow your heart.
That’s all for me today, gorgeous! Talk to you soon.
Love,
Kat
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