By Madison Lira

When December rolls around the corner, there is one movie that I tend to reach for repeatedly. A romantic comedy that I consider one of the best holiday movies of the mid-2000s. 

Nancy Meyers’s 2006 film, The Holiday, centers around two women in England and the United States, hoping to escape their homes from the heartbreak that plagues them throughout the film. 

The film stars Cameron Diaz as Amanda Woods and Kate Winslet as Iris Simpkins, where they respectively play the two lovelorn women of the film. 

Alongside them, Jude Law plays Iris’s brother Graham, and Jack Black plays Miles, the other love interest in the film. Throughout the two weeks, the characters switch their homes.

A whirlwind of romance and surprising friendships are made, including a friendship with a 90-year-old screenwriter that Iris finds and helps her character develop throughout the film.

Instead of spoiling the entire film, there’s a more significant reason why this should be considered one of the best holiday romantic comedies.

Jude Law’s and Jack Black’s characters embody the definition of the female gaze entirely in male fashion. Jude Law’s character, Graham, is a book editor and a widowed father of two young daughters. In a dating scene with Diaz’s character, he openly admits he’s a crier and will sob at anything ranging from an excellent book to even as simple as a birthday card. He discusses with Diaz’s character later on in the film that it’s easier for him to compartmentalize his life. He is afraid of introducing any woman into his life, especially to his daughters, as he doesn’t want to have someone come in unless he knows the relationship has a future, mainly for the sake of his daughters.

Moving onto Jack Black’s character, Miles, Nancy Meyers created this character based on Black’s previous performances in films such as School of Rock. Miles is a Hollywood film composer who does work alongside Diaz’s character and her ex-love interest at the beginning of the film. Miles isn’t the typical male gaze character where he’s “tall, dark and handsome,” but he is a sweetheart and a jokester. Miles is a loveable character who dotes on his girlfriend the entire film until that relationship ends. He helps Winslet’s character with the 90-year-old screenwriter by getting him to attend a Writers Guild of America West gala to honor his writing. Miles is funny, adorable, and an absolute sweetheart to all the women in the film, blowing any reason why he shouldn’t be liked out of the water.

The last thing to touch on from this film is the beautiful scoring written and composed by Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack and all-around aesthetic of the film adds to the building romance all the characters are leading up to. One personal favorite piece from the film happens when Winslet’s and Black’s characters first meet and is a perfect synopsis of the entire film called Anything Can Happen.