It’s Officially [Nancy Meyers’] “The Holiday” (2006) Season
And the Santa Ana’s are in full force in Los Angeles County.
If you couldn’t already tell by either being my close personal friend or from your benevolent, and much appreciated, subscription to Wistover (the name of this newsletter,) I am completely and unabashedly deranged.
I felt like I had to include that preface to this piece because I want to make sure that you know that I know that what I’m about to say is unhinged. That is to say, I have what I believe is a healthy amount of self-awareness about this particular holiday tradition of mine which no doubt dates back to the depths of my depression—much like our country, this too has a dark history. But that’s not what this piece is about.
This special midnight-leading-into-the-day-after-Thanksgiving publication is a celebration of “the most wonderful time of the year”™: [Nancy Meyers’] “The Holiday” (2006) Season.
The tradition is as follows: beginning the day after Thanksgiving and spanning to New Year’s Eve, I allow myself to screen “The Holiday” as many times as I want, and I’m not being hyperbolic. Usually I top out at once a day but I have occasionally ended a viewing and immediately pressed “play from the beginning” on my Apple TV. I came up with this tradition as an attempt to preserve what is perhaps my favorite Nancy Meyers film1. By relegating my viewing to this single “month” of the year, the film retains its nostalgic viewing power and allowing myself to “binge” without reservation makes it feel indulgent. Please don’t attempt to psycho-analyze this, I don’t think it would be that hard and I’m pretty sure I’m already aware of what you’d find.
This timeline might seem arbitrary but I assure you there is a practical methodology at play. Firstly, I tried starting after Halloween but two months of “The Holiday” on repeat is too long to feel special with daily screenings.
Secondly, the film is decidedly not a Thanksgiving film. The narrative sits squarely in that glorious interstitial period between Christmas and New Years when the construct of time breaks down and life becomes a series of slow mornings that crawl into lethargic afternoons before drifting into boozy evenings punctuated by the dwindling leftovers of Christmas dinner. Whether you’ve memorized every line, as I have, or you’re watching passively, as those around me tend to, the colors, the textures, the properties (!!!), in “The Holiday” (2006) are the perfect backdrop for your ongoing tryptophan haze and a great way to avoid familial discourse.
Lastly, and forgive me if this is a spoiler, though I really don’t think it is and honestly if you haven’t seen “The Holiday” (2006) I’m not sure how we’re close enough for you to be receiving this publication, the film ends on New Year’s Eve which makes December 31st the perfect closing night. And for what it’s worth, I need closure before New Year’s Day when I switch to “Bridget Jones’ Diary” (2001).
To my surprise, and immense horror, I have come to understand in my adult life that there are many who are not already acquainted with this masterpiece. Somehow it got lost in the shuffle of highly commercial, big budget,2 mid-aughts romantic comedies—oh, what a time to be alive—so in recent years I have attempted to share this tradition with new friends.3 In December of 2019 I introduced David Hull to the film and not only did he thoroughly enjoy the experience, he also cried!
Here are some tips, from a professional, for the perfect screening:
Make fettuccini Alfredo and eat it along with Cameron Diaz in that one scene where she eats Fettuccini Alfredo.
Think of someone who has broken your heart and chronically gaslighted you and project them onto Rufus Sewell’s character Jasper, Kate Winslet’s character Iris’ unrequited love.
Suspend your disbelief enough to not wonder why/how Kate Winslet’s cab from the airport is driving South on the Pacific Coast Highway to get to Cameron Diaz’s house in the Palisades instead of North from LAX which makes the most sense for an international flight from LHR.
Drink at least one full bottle of wine.
Brush up on the lyrics to the chorus of Mr. Brightside so you can sing along.
Book a trip to the Cotswolds, (even if only in your mind.)
Create a roaring fire (even if only on your laptop.)
Find a British boyfriend, literally anyone with a vaguely British accent will do.
Follow Nancy Meyers on Instagram and indulge in her BTS content like this shot of Kate in the office, or this carousel of photos of Cameron and the girls, or this great one of Nancy and Eli Wallach!!!
Fortunately, there are a number of ways to watch Nancy Meyers’ “The Holiday” (2006) this year. I have a DVD copy at my home in Georgia and a digital copy in my iTunes library that I purchased during the incredibly dark Christmas 2016 when the film was conspicuously absent from streaming libraries. If you don’t own the film I have bad news and good news: while I will have to revoke your membership to the Nancy Meyers fan club and scoff in your general direction, I can say with great aplomb, and a bit of shock tbh, that the film is available on Netflix!
Happy Nancy Meyers’ “The Holiday” (2006) Season to all who celebrate!
“Something’s Gotta Give” (2003) is my favorite non-holiday Nancy film.
The budget for “The Holiday” (2006) was $85m and the film accumulated a worldwide gross of $205,841,885 (https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0457939/?ref_=bo_se_r_1)
For more on Nancy Meyers’ oeuvre and feminism (I’m not kidding) read this fantastic book, Deborah Jermyn, Nancy Meyers, (Bloomsbury: New York, 2017).