Holidate | Blogmas Day 2

 Hey Guys x

Happy Blogmas Day 2!

Just from the name of the film, I couldn't tell if this was a Christmas film or not. Because of that, I wasn't sure if I was going to include it in my Blogmas posts. But even if the link to Christmas specifically isn't huge, it's enough to be included.

Slone (Emma Roberts) is tired of her family constantly asking about her love life, and Jackson (Luke Bracey) is tired of spending the holidays with strange women. So when these two strangers meet, they agree to be each other's Holidates (plus-ones for every holiday event) for a year. But will they realise how much better the holidays are when they're together?

I liked this movie, and I felt that it was the right one to begin the Christmas period with - getting you in the mood for Christmas without being too festive.

There is a really great introduction to these two characters. They develop chemistry really quickly and they seem to work well together.

The premise isn't necessarily original, but it feels like it's done in an original way. However, the trope of a young girl being harassed by her family about being single needs to die off, because it's officially boring.

What was original to me about this one was the way that Slone and Jackson's friendship was developed. Normally in these movies, the romance is all that's focused on, so the friendship is under-developed. It was nice that the friendship was important in this one, too.

At one point in the film, a character asks what the point of a 'Holidate' is, and I have to agree with the question. Having a Holidate doesn't stop Slone from being harassed by her family because she constantly tells everyone that they're just friends and it means nothing. Why bother?

The problem with only showing the holidays is that more time has passed than you expect. Because of this, it is really obvious when there is a lack of character development, and I felt like all of the characters suffered from this. The exact same movie could have taken place over 12 days rather than 12 months.

After a while, I found Sloane and Jackson's relationship to be really frustrating. What are they? What do they want to be? Why won't they communicate? They had great chemistry, but a lot of their interactions were frustrating. It would have been nice to seem them interact outside of major holidays, particularly when the holidays weren't that significant anyway.

Overall, I'd definitely watch this again, but it was much more of a rom-com than a Christmas movie.

Originality - 4/10

Christmas Spirit - 3/10

Christmas Music - 6/10

It's 23 days until Christmas!

Come back tomorrow for Blogmas day 3!

Lou