NEW TO NETFLIX! There are two types of movies I don’t freely admit to enjoying, even though I almost always do. They would be romantic comedies and Christmas movies. The Netflix movie Holidate is both. However, I don’t feel embarrassed admitting I like it because it’s generally free of all the cheesy trappings that both types of movies typically possess. I also am a huge fan of Emma Roberts, who plays the lead, Sloane. She has a great sarcastic sense of humor that is masterfully showcased in the film.
Sloane’s mother, Elaine (Frances Fisher), and sister, Abby (Jessica Capshaw), are constantly trying to set Sloane up on blind dates with people she couldn’t possibly be less interested in. Sloane is also still getting over her last boyfriend, Luc (Julien Marlon Samani), who sent a picture of his you-know-what to a barista at Starbucks named Rainbow.
“A holidate is someone you only take with you to holiday functions so that you don’t have to suffer through them alone.”
At the outset of the film, Sloane is alone at yet another family Christmas and is mortified when her younger brother, York (Jake Manley), proposes to his girlfriend, Liz (Cynthy Wu), at the family event. This leaves her as the last of the children that isn’t married. Meanwhile, Australian golf pro Jackson (Luke Bracey) is facing more mortifying circumstances at the family Christmas of a girl he had only gone on three dates with, who now believes Jackson is her boyfriend.
By some chance of fate, Sloane and Jackson meet each other at the mall. Sloane steals the idea from her cougar aunt Susan (Kristin Chenoweth) for Jackson to be her “holidate.” A holidate is someone you only take with you to holiday functions so that you don’t have to suffer through them alone. There are no other attachments or sex. It seems like a pretty decent deal. However, this is a romantic comedy, so naturally, it becomes a little bit more complicated than Sloane or Jackson imagined it would be at first.
"…someone's finger even gets blown off."
