Randomly meeting at a store return counter introduces Sloane to Jackson. Both tired of nightmare dates (him) and meddling family (her) during the holidays, they strike an arrangement, whereby they meet as a couple only during the holidays to make life at the very least tolerable. Slowly, so slowly, while scoffing at the cliches of romance (and to their surprise), their relationship grows into something deeper.... (Full plot summary below)
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Randomly meeting at a store return counter introduces Sloane to Jackson. Both tired of nightmare dates (him) and meddling family (her) during the holidays, they strike an arrangement, whereby they meet as a couple only during the holidays to make life at the very least tolerable. Slowly, so slowly, while scoffing at the cliches of romance (and to their surprise), their relationship grows into something deeper.
Leave your thoughts about Holidate.
| Film ThreatLorry KiktaIt’s a Christmas movie that makes you laugh. There are a couple of cheesy scenes, though, so don’t worry if that’s what you’re looking for in your holiday viewing. |
| The A.V. ClubCaroline SiedeLike so much of Netflix’s quantity over quality output, Holidate is broad, unsubtle, and seemingly designed to be half-watched, phone in hand. Yet within that framework, it finds a unique comedic spark that keeps it zipping along. |
| VarietyLisa KennedyBriskly directed by John Whitesell, written by Tiffany Paulsen, Holidate won’t change your mind about the tread-worn challenges of romantic comedies, but its leads leverage their charms nicely. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzThe movie surprises on almost every level, breaking a number of contemporary rom-com rules along the way thanks to Tiffany Paulsen’s self-aware screenplay. I don’t mean in the meta-satirical sense of, say, David Wain’s absurdist They Came Together. More like a watered down Nora Ephron project. |
| PolygonKaren HanThough the central idea is fun, everything that’s been built around it feels rote, if not totally outdated. |
| IndieWireKate ErblandPredictability doesn’t have to be a sin when it comes to the often paint-by-the-numbers world of romantic comedy, but this awkward combination of expectation and disdain for it make for a film only fleetingly worthy of celebration. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAn excruciatingly cheesy, hopelessly dated, profoundly unfunny and tone-deaf romantic comedy about an intelligent, hard-working, likable and lovely woman. |
| The Hollywood ReporterRobyn BahrIt's a fun conceit trapped in a broad and retrograde flick. |
| Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdonaIn such troubled times, one supposes there’s comfort to be found in the lack of adventurousness of Holidate, but it’s like opening the same present again and again. |
| Boston GlobeTy BurrIn trying to play up the naughty, witty side of the rom-com equation, the movie settles for snarky. It’s an acrid fairy tale, if not without a few pleasures, and it arrives on Netflix just in time for — wait, Christmas? |
