Stars: 3/5
Enlisting in a ploy to not be alone for the holidays while also not having to date casually, Sloane and Jackson’s holidate contract is more than what they bargained for.
With the constant target of inquiries regarding her love life, Sloane, played by Emma Roberts, is at her wits end of being constantly questioned about whether she has moved on and found a new special someone after a painful break up. In a post-Christmas store return gone wrong, Sloane meets Jackson, played by Luke Bracey, and randomly tells him about her aunt’s holiday dating ritual “the holidate.”
The holidate is the casual holiday date that is short lived, requiring no long-term strings or connections. It defines itself. In an effort to not be alone or have to bring strange people to holiday gatherings, Sloane and Jackson sign up to be each other’s holidates for New Year’s Eve.
Since they both weren’t in new relationships, they spent each holiday together for an entire year. Unbeknownst to them, a bond stronger than casual holiday dates was forming, ultimately giving them both what they had been looking for.
Being the romantic that I am, I enjoyed this film. Pairing that with my love for holiday films, I’d definitely watch this again for the comedic components alone.
However, I gave it a three out of five for a few reasons.
For starters, I’m the worst when it comes to low budget movies. It’s not that I hate them, it’s just that I have a hard time getting through them sometimes because of the quality of the production, compounded with acting that can be subpar and below.
In the beginning of this film, the acting was not really good and there are definitely some parts where the director should have yelled “cut,” subsequently shooting the scene as many times as needed.
There were a also few lines that fell flat when the punch lines were dropped. This could possibly be attributed to the writing style and direction of the film. However possibly intentional or unintentional, it’s awkward at each point in the film when it happens.
There is a bigger question that I believe this film raises. Do situationships like the holidate agreement lead to finding love? It’s clear that it can from the film, but could it work in reality. Should someone try it and see?
In a time where people meet their significant others by constantly swiping left or right, could picking a friend or that random guy or girl you had that one conversation with in line at the mall allow you to find the one?
I think it could.
Finding love in today’s world doesn’t always happen as organically as many would like. No one can claim that people aren’t looking for it, otherwise there wouldn’t be millions of people around the world making the developers of Christian Mingle, Tinder and every other dating app filthy rich.
If anything, all holidating does is mimic the traditional courting structure with no strings attached, however there were some additional rules that Sloane and Jackson derived.
So, if you’re looking for love: could this work for you?
