Those crackpots at MarVista Entertainment are at it again, blasting the world with unnecessary seasonal feelings with yet another cheesy holiday romp, that goes under the name of Holly's Holiday. This time, an ad exec (named Holly, as the title would indicate) dreams of finding her Mr. Right, and of course is unaware that her perfect co-worker who loves her, and completely fits the bill, is right in front of her face for forty hours a week. How are so many women so stupid? (That was a rhetorical question, by the way.)
Of course these movies have to have a “villain”, whether they be intentionally slimy greaseballs, or just a decoy that serves the sole purpose of teaching the woman a valuable lesson about the invalidity of the “perfect man” they spend their whole lives searching for: in this case, it's Bo, a store window mannequin who comes to life, and whose facial expressions are so overexaggerated that I want to chew his face clean off. Of course, Bo is the perfect physical embodiment to what Holly thinks is the man of her dreams, but she's about to discover that looks, and perfection, aren't everything...
I won't bore you with the exact plot details you somehow already know without having watched a single minute of it, but let's just say the whole affair feels every bit as familiar as you are hoping for, though at least there are some genuinely funny moments (an incredibly awkward dinner with Bo's family is responsible for about half of them), and an adorably charming female lead who's at least nice to look at even as she “stupids” her way through life, blowing off the man she's really meant to be with while getting caught up in the sudden perfection of mannequin man, who is the first person she sees as she wakes up from being knocked out on a busy city sidewalk.
This is where I have to admit that writing a review for these movies before you finish them can be dangerous. We had all but fifteen minutes watched, and I was set to give this an above-average review, figuring I knew exactly how it would all play out. Of course I did—everyone knows from the first two minutes who is going to end up with who—but I made the mistake of forgetting that getting from point A to point B in these movies is never a straight line.
In this case, so much is crammed into the finale that it nearly undoes all of the “fun” that proceeded it, dragging itself along like an injured runner desperately trying to cross a finish line. There's attempted sabotage, sudden rivalries, unconvincing arguments, a two-day coma from falling, a hospital stay, and a frantic attempt to beat a deadline, all crammed into 900 seconds, and all just to end up where we knew it was going all along. And now I just realized I made it sound way more badass and entertaining than the actual experience of watching it is, so I'm just going to quit now, and say there are far worse examples of the holiday romance out there, but if you're looking for “more charming than ridiculous”, this one probably won't be your cup of tea.
RATING: 4.5/10
This is where I have to admit that writing a review for these movies before you finish them can be dangerous. We had all but fifteen minutes watched, and I was set to give this an above-average review, figuring I knew exactly how it would all play out. Of course I did—everyone knows from the first two minutes who is going to end up with who—but I made the mistake of forgetting that getting from point A to point B in these movies is never a straight line.
In this case, so much is crammed into the finale that it nearly undoes all of the “fun” that proceeded it, dragging itself along like an injured runner desperately trying to cross a finish line. There's attempted sabotage, sudden rivalries, unconvincing arguments, a two-day coma from falling, a hospital stay, and a frantic attempt to beat a deadline, all crammed into 900 seconds, and all just to end up where we knew it was going all along. And now I just realized I made it sound way more badass and entertaining than the actual experience of watching it is, so I'm just going to quit now, and say there are far worse examples of the holiday romance out there, but if you're looking for “more charming than ridiculous”, this one probably won't be your cup of tea.
RATING: 4.5/10
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