Holiday (1938)

Holiday Review

Holiday is a 1938 romantic comedy directed by George Cukor and starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. It is one of the most entertaining films of its time.

I absolutely loved this movie, every second of it. I enjoyed it immensely and as far as pure entertainment goes, it delivers. It has so much energy in its execution and inherent charm which are the qualities essential for a screwball comedy to work. What I loved most about it is its sense of fun and childlike wonder. The two main characters both possess such qualities and they both bring a lot of heart and charisma to the picture.

Johnny is such a good and well realized character. He is funny and is likable from beginning to end. But this is Linda’s show and she is just perfect. I adored her! She is definitely the major reason why the whole film works so well. She is so fun, so childlike, so endearing, so energetic and just so lovable that you can’t help but love her. I love characters such as this one as I can relate to them having in mind that I myself share some of these personality traits. But Julia serves her purpose and the father is of course typical, but well realized. The Potters are so much fun and I really enjoyed their characters as they wonderfully interact with Linda, but Ned is also so endearing as this troubled, but caring person and I just loved his last scene.

The acting is magnificent with each and every performance being so great and that lifted the movie to even greater heights. Edward Everett Horton is very good as Nick Potter and Henry Kolker is also quite good, but it is nice to see Lew Ayres as well and he did such a good job as Ned. But Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are marvelous. It is crazy to think about, but this movie came out in 1938 which is the same year that ‘Bringing Up Baby‘ was released, a movie that starred both of these talented actors. And while that movie is overall a bit better, I would have to say that I enjoyed this one more and the actors here are just as good as in that movie. Grant is fantastic as usual, but it is Hepburn who blew me away with her powerhouse performance and after this flick, I am definitely her fan. It is such a shame that she was double snubbed for an Oscar that year and that just goes to show how the Academy is ignorant towards comedies. But she is terrific and the two share such a great chemistry together and bring a lot of charisma to the table.

Holiday of course has simply phenomenal dialogue and the lines burst so fast and they are all so sophisticated and so funny. It is emotional as well and has a big heart and the highlights are those scenes when everyone arrives on the party and of course the scenes in the playroom are gems – so incredibly effervescent and beautifully innocent. The only flaws in this movie are those concerned of plot of course. Yes, we know how this movie will end, but thankfully the road to that ending isn’t as predictable as I thought it would be. And the third act of the film is definitely too serious and lacking humor. But overall the humor is superb and I laughed out loud many times. Linda cracked me out the most, but all of the characters have their moments and the humor here is of the best kind – childlike, energetic and quickly delivered. It is an underrated film in my opinion as it is really strong and it deserves its place on the lists of best screwball comedies for sure.