Holidate is a 2020 romantic comedy holiday movie produced by Netflix, a popular video streaming platform. It was directed by John Whitesell with the screenplay written by Tiffany Paulsen.
Starring Emma Roberts (as Sloane) and Luke Bracey (as Jackson) as main characters, Holidate is not actually that festive, romantic, and funny as you might have expected it to be.
Sloane and Jackson are two single people who live in Chicago and accidentally meet each, looking for a companion on New Year’s Eve. They hope to make this holiday suck less, and neither of them wants commitment or anything serious whatsoever.
After chatting for a while, the strangers agree on becoming holidates, meaning that they will be each other’s dates on pretty much every holiday during the year while they are both single.
The rest of the movie shows the viewers what happens throughout the following year, including occasions like St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, Cinco de Mayo, Valentine’s day, and a bunch of other festive days, which you are supposed to celebrate with someone to share your joys. The last stop is, of course, Christmas, because that’s what every year ends with.
By the end of the year, the movie characters realize that they actually want to spend the rest of their lives together, celebrating upcoming holidays in the company of each other, because yeah, this movie is a romantic comedy.
Of course, these two party animals resemble other characters from rom coms like Friends With Benefits or Sleeping With Other People, who make it look like they are “just friends” while hiding their true feelings.
Some might find Holidate another predictable romantic comedy, and yes, the movie features some genre cliches. However, it also has some mature and saucy dialogs that create an off-kilter feel. Despite the apparent lack of structure, Holidate is a movie that attempted to bled genre traditions with millennial-style comedy, and that is something to be appreciated.