If we’re being blunt, I am a cynic. I don’t believe in love and maybe that’s just because I have been burnt too many times. Who knows? I don’t, and I am the one living my life.
But what I do believe in is that Netflix knows what we need and they serve it up when we didn’t even know it was what we needed. They definitely know a good rom-com and Holidate is the rom-com that we did need.
The premise is basic – Fed up with being single on holidays, two strangers agree to be each other’s platonic plus-ones all year long, only to catch real feelings along the way.
Holidays do suck when you don’t have a significant other. Especially when you are the only one that is single. Family is always judging and they always have a million things to say. Sloane is experiencing just that, and it’s overwhelming.
Jackson is far away from home and knows that the holidays suck. He’s finding himself women that are stage 5 clingers and all sorts of crazy.
But these two finding each other is what it’s all about. This movie was this adorable rom-com that we need more of in life.
THE MEET CUTE
There is nothing better than a great meet cute. Think about it – when you remember all of the great love stories, you can remember how they met.
For Sloane and Jackson it was doing something that we all do – a right of passage after the holidays – returning a bad gift for Christmas. We’ve all been there – getting something that we would never wear, never use, or something that is just not you. But there is nothing worse than having to go back to the store – because some jackass doesn’t have a receipt and refuses to take store credit.
Take the credit, for fucks sake.
But while people are moaning and groaning – here comes Sloane, ready to tell Jackson what to do. He doesn’t seem like he wants to do anything but get cash. And hey, I can’t even complain about that cause if someone gave me khaki’s we’d be having words. Do I look like I would wear that shit?
The two see that they are a little bit alike and God knows how they start talking as much as they do, but they can’t stop speaking. Normally, I would have a lot to say about this, but the reality is I don’t in this instance, because if someone as hot as him wanted to talk to me, I would be all over that and licking the drool that would be falling down my face as I stared at all his glory.
Not sure how they transitioned to the Holidate conversation so quickly and why he was so gung ho on this whole thing. I mean for all he knew this was some psycho at the mall. Cute girls can be fucking nuts too. And I mean hey, if you’re starting off sharing crazy stories… but then again maybe the girl that had the Matt Lauer tattoo was a sign that you could have worse.
He says that they should be each others Holidates. And she’s hesitant to the idea, but I think she’s hesitant because she’s scared. She’s like a typical rom-com dude here – afraid of falling in love and letting anyone close to her.
THE HOLIDAYS
Sloane doesn’t want to give into the idea of the Holidate, but when her Mom interrupts her day at work and tries to set her up – she’s done. So she calls Jackson (even though he had said to text) and agrees to the New Years Eve Holidate.
And these two are perfect together. They have the same sense of humor. They laugh together. They don’t mind corniness and they just fit. I think though that they are trying too hard to separate feelings and not show an attraction, that it is all that shows. And I think that terrifies Sloane.
But for her that means putting up a wall really quickly and that means no Valentines Day Holidate. Which is a mistake – cause she should always take all the moments to have anyone as fine as Jackson in her life. Shopping for Valentines Candy in your pajamas and running into your ex is never a cute thing.
But he’s there – Jackson shows up to save the day. And these two end up saving the day for many holidays to come. They may not have to talk to each other everyday, or hell, every week, but they get through and when they are around each other it’s as if they have never left each others side.
And I can respect that.
Every day with them is a good time. They’ve seen each other at their worst. They’ve seen each other at their best. But the two of them have such fear of intimacy that it terrifies them and they don’t know how to just be.
But you see them through every holiday and when Labor Day comes and Jackson’s finger gets blown off by a firework and she takes him to the hospital. Look, if we’re being honest, when a finger gets blown off, I am gonna pass out and not be capable of driving. I want to be there for my friends.
But Sloane wants to be more than that. He wants her to be more than that. And when she acts like the best girlfriend ever – stays with him, calls his Mama, and they have an intimate touch and you can see that one of them is waiting for the other one’s guard to come down.
But this is what makes a good rom-com. That will they/won’t they/you know they will drama. You want it. You crave it. You’re willing to sit through the bullshit to get to that point. And you know that they are going to pull away from each other because that is what happens.
But it is when things like that happen that you have that swoony moment of what’s it going to take for them to be back together. What will be the great romantic gesture. You know it will come because that’s the formula that happens.
And you think you know when it’s coming – but what threw you off on this one was that the formula went a little out of whack. Because before there was a big moment of confessing feelings – they slept together. And look – I legit cheered for them, because I wanted to have them together.
But when you are still afraid of rejection, because that’s what you have known – it is normal to push away before you get pushed. And that’s what Sloane did, but Jackson left and she wanted someone to fight for her.
Because she’s looking for someone to fight for her.
THE FAMILY
Sloane’s family is a lot. But it goes to show you that even though everyone thinks that you are the problem child – but everyone has their own problems. Sloane’s Mama is crazy and overbearing. Her sister has a husband that has basically forgotten that she exists. Her brother has married someone that he doesn’t know – because he’s never let down his guard down and shown who he is.
But everyone has been directed at Sloane, because she’s alone. She’s great at work and moving forward, but that’s about it. She’s content in life.
Because when Sloane opens her heart, she gets hurt. She feels destroyed. And I feel like Luc fucked her up – but hey – French men have a habit of doing that. They make everything change.
When Sloane and Jackson keep their Holidate pact and he comes to Thanksgiving, everything is going to change.
See, when you need that big gesture – as she did – you need to be open to it. Sloane wasn’t open to it. Jackson put his heart on the line and told her how he’s felt. But she wasn’t open to hearing any of it.
And maybe it was because she didn’t know how to embrace the fear and allow someone in. Love is all about that – the chances that you take when you allow yourself to take them. It’s about being vulnerable and being vulnerable is something she doesn’t know how to be.
I think for Sloane – she was willing to hurt before she got hurt again. But she realized that.
When she went home from the grocery store and Jackson didn’t come back with her – her Mom had words to say. She wasn’t the kindest about it – but that led to a fight with her sister and well, lets just say that the truth always has a way of coming out.
Jackson is her person, but in order for someone to be your person, you have to let them in.
THE PUBLIC SPEECH
You would think that the big thing was the moment that Jackson laid his heart out on the table in the store. But when that was shot down really quickly – you kinda just thought it was the end.
But here’s the thing about endings – there are always beginnings that follow. And you have to work for a new beginning when you are the one that closes the door.
Sloane realizes that she needs to go after Jackson when her niece tells her that life has handed her a moment. Life really doesn’t always hand us a lot of those, so it’s important to seize those when you can.
When she had to give a speech in front of the entire mall, and risk rejection. She goes balls to the wall and lays everything out.
And its just enough of the swoony shit to pull you right in and make you cheer for them all.
Overall, Holidate is the goodness from Netflix that we have come to expect and one that you should watch immediately.
