REVIEW: The “Holidate” is a Holiday Movie Miss

For those of you still single, and over the age of 28, the Holidays are not always the best time of year. From family members asking why your still single to cheesy Holiday movies playing on every channel, the Holidays are a gentle reminder that, once again, you are alone for another year. Well in Netflix’s new Holiday movie, Holidate, Jackson (Luke Bracey) and Sloane (Emma Roberts) are over not having dates for the holidays and decide, after a random meeting at the Mall, to be each other’s “Holidates”. What does this mean for the pair? This means that for every Holiday, the two will be each others platonic plus ones. No commitment, no feelings, just plain old dates, who are on hand to keep the other company during there difficult times with family.

The idea behind the Holidate is a good one. It has all the makings of the perfect Holiday movie, but the execution could have been better. Rather than sticking to the typical Holiday cheesiness, Holidate tried to make its characters and story a little more edgier. I understand wanting to make a Holiday movie that stood out from all the rest, but this one ended up sticking out in a bad way. None of the characters are very likeable, which is a shame because Roberts and Bracey could have been great together. And instead of focusing on why the two characters can and cannot fall in love with each other, the movie focused mainly on why they shouldn’t be together.

Roberts and Bracey are good as Sloane and Jackson, but nothing about their performances had me rooting for them. There was no chemistry between the pair and that was not because of lack of trying on their parts. The characters were written in such a poor way where the their brief sweet moments were overshadowed by scenes that would portray them as unpleasant and overbearing.

Kristin Chenoweth took on the role of Sloane’s Aunt Susan and she might have been the best part of the movie, which is saying a lot because of how over the top she was. But it was fun to see Chenoweth play a more risky character than the sweet and innocent ones she normally plays.

Holidate is the first of many Holiday movies being released on Netflix this Holiday season, so if you are looking for a holiday movie to watch right now, pick out an old favorite. At the end of the day, the Holidate is not a bad movie, but it is not a great one either. It is a decent movie to have on in the background, but, as I said, if you are looking for a Holiday movie, this one isn’t it.

Grade: C