What it lacks in sweet sentimentality it surely makes up for in raunchy filth. The 2020 Netflix original film âHolidateâ stars Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey as a pair of overly attractive highly unlikeable singles who agree to be each otherâs dates for an entire calendar year of holiday obligations.
âHolidateâ opens with some promise. The opening scene shows Sloane (Roberts) smoking a cigarette on her motherâs front porch as she laments going inside for Christmas dinner. âFucking holidays.” She utters â the opening words of the film. No, this one isnât suitable for children.
We quickly get the picture that Sloane is the only single person in her family and therefore hates being around her own kin. The character of Sloane is one we get in a lot of movies of this genre. Sheâs really pretty and single, and surrounded by friends and family members who are in seemingly perfect relationships. Her mother in particular is comically overbearing in wanting Sloane to find a partner, even though her daughter seems content with her life.
Jackson (Bracey) is a single guy who loves hooking up with as many women as he can, and the dialogue from his initial sequence holds no punches â again, this gem isnât for conservative ears. Jackson is a smarmy looking guy who partners with Sloan for a non-committal relationship. Their chemistry on screen is nothing more than a pair of hired models who have no organic cohesion. We know right from the start that they will fall for each other at some point, but by the end, you wonât even care.
I like the setting of Chicago, and the entire year of “holidates” they attend is unique but it pulls the Christmas feeling away for the most part. One âhystericalâ interaction is a July 4th party in which Jackson literally blows one of his fingers off with a firework. Itâs not funny at all.
Missed jokes aside, the downfall is the complete hatred of virtually every character involved. From Sloanâs promiscuous Aunt Susan (Kristin Chenoweth) to her sister Abby (Jessica Capshaw) who openly cheats on her husband and in a barrel full of laughs moment smokes a joint from behind the wheel of her SUV (I mean, who doesnât find DUIâs hilarious). At one point a character (It was so bad I donât even recall which one) gives advice of âalways date downâ â meaning never date someone who is equally or more attractive than you are because they will certainly find someone better at some point.
âHolidateâ will give you no sense of warmth, joy, or hope. Itâs an awful movie that tries to be more funny than sentimental and fails at doing that too.
